Love is Blind II: Destiny's Battle
by necris14
Summary: Sequel fic to Love is Blind. More Advanceshipping goodness!
1. Chapter 1: Visions of Rampardos

_Not sure if anyone remembers my old Love is Blind fic from last summer(which is still up, if you don't know of it), but, yeah, this would be the sequel to that. I planned to have this started up months ago, but, you know how things go in that ole' thing called real life..._

_Hope you guys enjoy!_

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_"Rampardos, use Headbutt!"_

_"Dodge it, Sceptile!"_

_The giant blue-and-black creature launched itself headfirst at the opposing green one, who quickly leaped out of the way, causing the former to slam into the rock wall behind him rather forcefully._

_"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!"_

_The green creature turned back toward the other after landing and charged at it, clenching its fist and causing the large leaf formation on its arm to transform into an elongated blade of glowing green energy. Before its opponent could react, it slashed it on the back with the green blade, causing it to dissipate back into a mass of leaves afterward._

_"Ram-parrrr!" The blue-and-black one roared in pain._

_"Rampardos! Use Flamethrower!"_

_"Rammm!" Rampardos growled, snapping around as quickly as it could and spraying a steady stream of fire out of its mouth at Sceptile._

_"Dodge it, Sceptile!"_

_But it was too late. Sceptile was still on the return from Leaf Blade, and was hit with the full force of the Fire-type attack. "Sce-ep!"_

_"…Sceptile, use Agility!"_

_"Scep!" Sceptile cried, seeming to shrug off the effects of Flamethrower and glaring across the field at Rampardos. A second later, it began running at him, and then disappeared. It reappeared a split second later, in a completely different location. Then again. And again._

_"Rampardos, Flamethrower again!"_

_"Raaaaaam!" Rampardos bellowed, loosing another spray of fire and angrily fanning it out across the whole field, but Sceptile still seemed to be evading the attack._

_"Now, Sceptile! Get above him and use Slam!"_

_"Scep – " Sceptile uttered, blinking into midair above Rampardos, who didn't even notice in his Flamethrower-fueled rage. He flipped over in mid-air as he fell and ended up slamming his tail down on Rampardos with the full force of his fall. " – TILE!"_

_"Ram!" Rampardos grunted, ceasing the Flamethrower and turning in shock to Sceptile, who quickly stepped away a good distance once he had landed. Even though Slam had hit Rampardos full force, it still hadn't done all that much._

_"Rampardos! Focus Energy!"_

_"Ramparr…" Rampardos growled softly, knowing what was coming next. A slow, steady surge of light-blue energy began to shoot up through his body from the ground up._

_"All right, then – Sceptile, use Solarbeam!"_

_"Scep…" Sceptile muttered lightly, locking eyes with Rampardos as the bulbs on his back began to light up, soaking in the light from the stadium._

_A number of moments passed in silence, the two Pokemon staring each other down as they both readied themselves for their next move. The soft noises of the light being gathered in Sceptile's bulbs and Rampardos's energy building up were quite audible in the silence. Then –_

_"Rampardos, Head Smash!"_

_"Rampaaaaaaaarr!" Rampardos roared, ceasing the flow of energy through its body and throwing itself headfirst across the arena for the second time at Sceptile, only this time, the blue section of its cranium was glowing._

_Sceptile held off until the last second before releasing the enormous blast of light from its mouth. The meeting of the two caused a massive earth-rocking explosion, covering the field in a layer of obscuring smoke._

_Once the smoke had cleared, a scarred Sceptile was left staring triumphantly at an unconscious Rampardos on the ground before him._

_"Rampardos is unable to battle! Sceptile is the winner, and the victory of this Gym Battle goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"_

_"All right! Great job, Sceptile!" Ash cried out in joy, running out onto the field to congratulate his Pokemon._

_The trainer on the other side of the field stared at his fallen Rampardos with a sullen look on his face for a moment before recalling it with a grin. "Nice try today, Rampardos. Take a rest." He then stepped forward onto the field as well, toward Ash and Sceptile._

_"Roark!" Ash remarked as the Gym Leader approached him in defeat. "That was a great battle!"_

_"Yeah, it really was." Roark agreed truthfully. "And beating me means you've earned yourself this." He held out his hand with a small, metallic badge in it, bearing a design not too unlike that of a brown stone Pokeball on it._

_"Wow…" Ash muttered, gingerly taking it from Roark's hands as Sceptile watched over his shoulder. "I got…a Coal Badge!"_

_Roark grinned at Ash's excitement, but his eyes were quickly drawn to something behind Ash's shoulder. "Hey, who's that?"_

_"Huh?" Ash said, turning to look behind himself at an oncoming figure. Even though they were in a large, brightly lit chamber, he couldn't quite make out who it was, though whoever it was was waving at him vigorously. "Who's – "_

_But before he could even get the words out, the entire room shimmered, and the dark figure came into focus. A young girl with medium-length brown hair, splayed out in two individual locks in the front and a Pokeball-print bandana on over it._

_"Oh, hey!" Ash called out, waving back to her. Without turning back to the Gym Leader, he continued, "Roark, this is May. She's my - "_

Ash Ketchum's eyes suddenly shot open, introducing him to a starless night sky lingering above him, and leaving him to contemplate what exactly had just happened.

"Huh…?" Ash mumbled, blinking a couple of times and looking around. Not that he could make out much, what with the blackness and all. "Ah, man, must've been a dream…"

He yawned. Glancing to his right side, he saw his lifetime Pokemon partner and best friend, Pikachu, curled up and sound asleep on a treaded lump of grass.

"Hey, buddy." Ash thought to himself silently, before turning to his other side.

He was met with the sight of the same girl from his dream, although she was asleep as well, her sleeping bag wrapped around her protectively and her red bandana folded up on the ground next to her along with the rest of her belongings.

Aside from Pikachu, and possibly his mother, this was the single person in the world that mattered the most to him, as surprising as it was for him to admit that to himself. In the last half a dozen months or so, the two of them had been through an unbelievable amount of things together, not the least of which was the pair actually falling for each other. In the aftermath of all that, they had decided to journey into the region of Sinnoh together, on their own for the first time, as neither of them had been to the island country before.

May.

He kept his gaze locked on her sleeping form, watching the minute movements of her face and torso as she breathed ever so softly in her sleep. He could even hear the soft sound of each breath, given the piercing silence.

After a few moments of this, he turned back to the starless night sky. "I wonder what that dream was all about..."

Suddenly, from within the dark void above him, a single white streak shot its way across the black canvas.

"Ah! A shooting star!" Ash exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. He hadn't ever been totally sure if the old fable about wishing on them was true or not, until the last time he'd seen one, on a boat near the southernmost edge of the Kanto region. He'd made an impromptu wish regarding May back then, and, so far, it had more or less come true.

"I wonder if I should make another wish…" Ash thought to himself, continuing to stare up at the sky. He glanced to Pikachu, then to May, considering the possibilities.

"Pii-ka…" Pikachu groaned softly in its sleep.

A moment later, Ash closed his eyes resolutely and silently thought made his request to the shooting star.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that numerous actual stars were starting to fade into view, small glittering dots sprinkled across the sheet of darkness.

Ash grinned to himself, took one last glance at May, and turned over, already beginning to drift back to sleep.

* * *

_I think I'm off to a fairly vague start, wouldn't you say?_

_Please R&R!_


	2. Chapter 2: Road of Flowers

_Hullo again, everyone! I hope you're ready for some exposition._

_

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_

The next thing Ash knew, he was being gently shaken awake by a rather soft-handed somebody. He slowly cracked his eyes open and was immediately met with the sight of May silhouetted against the morning sun, the shining aura almost making her appear angelic.

"M-morning…" Ash yawned, sitting up and stretching in place.

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead." May replied teasingly as Pikachu bounded up on its partner's shoulder.

"Pi-ka-chu!"

"'Morning, buddy." Ash murmured sleepily.

So, what's on the menu for today?" Ash asked her after taking a few minutes to properly wake himself up.

"Well, um…I've kind of got some bad news about that." May replied coyly, not meeting his glance. "I was looking through our stuff earlier, before you woke up, and it looks like we kind of…ran out of food."

Ash stared at her speechless for a moment before responding. "We – what?" His stomach grumbled audibly not a moment later.

"But!" May continued pointedly, raising a finger pointedly. "We might be out of food, but we're close enough to Floaroma Town to make it there this afternoon!"

"This afternoon?" Ash grumbled in protest. "But that's – " He was cut by the sound of his stomach rumbling again. "Uuuugh…"

"Well, if _someone_ hadn't eaten an extra sandwich last night – "

"Hey, I wasn't the only one!"

The two continued arguing playfully as they packed up their belongings and set off for Floaroma Town.

Since the two of them had set off on their own for the first time by going to Sinnoh, they'd had a little difficulty at first when it came to figuring out how to feed themselves and navigate in an unfamiliar region without their usual companions along with them, namely Brock, how had previously taken care of all of that and more for the group.

They'd gotten the hang of things before too long, though. May had more or less figured out how to work a PokeNav from watching her younger brother, Max, do it for so long, and they'd been able to procure one for themselves not long after arriving in Sinnoh. As for food, they'd simply decided that, lacking the natural cooking experience of Brock, they would stock up on simple things such as sandwich stuff and canned goods to keep them going between towns, where they usually would simply eat out somewhere.

May had also opted to change up her look a little not long after arriving in the new region. Her overall style remained mostly unchanged; the color scheme changed more than anything: she now bore a warmly-colored, sapphire-blue top with no sleeves and black accents around the sides and collar, and a similarly colored though otherwise identical bandana. Although her fanny pack and shorts remained unchanged, she no longer wore the short white cloth-skirt with them, as her new shirt proved to be just long and baggy enough to do the same job on its own. She had also taken to wearing her hair down, letting it grow out some more in the back to where it was around shoulder-length.

Ash kept even more of his old clothes than she did, only changing his two shirts and hat so that he was now clad in a simple white undershirt with a thin, sleeveless black vest over it, which had a broad yellow stripe across the middle of it. His new hat was the same model as his old one, but now it had a blue half-Pokeball on the front instead of a green one.

Later that afternoon, as they began to draw closer to Floaroma Town, they began noticing pockets of brightly colored flowers dotting the grass beside the road.

"Pi?" Pikachu piped up, noticing the unusual plants from atop Ash's shoulder.

"Hey, look at all those flowers." Ash remarked, turning to glance at them as well. "I wonder if that means we're getting close? Isn't this place famous for flowers or something?"

"I hope so!" May answered excitedly, and not just because her stomach had begun rumbling recently as well. "These are some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen!"

"You think so?" Ash mumbled back, his thoughts drifting back to the last time – well, the only time – he'd gotten May a flower. It had been supposedly picked from the area near the Forest Shrine in the Johto region, with stubby, emerald-green petals to match. May had worn it in her hair every day until they'd left for Sinnoh, and still did, from time to time.

"Well…you know." May added, looking back at Ash with a familiar glint in her eye. "Except for this one that this great guy gave me once. What was his name again…?"

Ash merely continued watching her with an unsure grin on his face, not totally sure where she was going with this.

"…Was it Drew?" She continued, when Ash didn't step in to say anything, a coy grin present on her face as she turned away from him. "No…"

Ash began to move faster, coming up behind her while Pikachu merely watched with amusement.

"…Brendan? No, where'd I get that name from?" May pressed on, chuckling to herself.

Ash reached his arm out to grab her shoulder, intending to spin her around on the spot. "May - !"

"Oh, yeah, I remember now." May said, with a sense of finality as she turned to face Ash before he could touch her. She locked eyes with him. "His name was Ash."

Before he could even lower his outstretched arm, she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, easing his hand down with her own in the process as a feeling of warmth surged through the two of them.

Ash was taken off guard for a second, but gradually leaned in to the kiss as well. And, for just a moment, all was still, save for a group of Combee eagerly buzzing around off in the distance.

"I love you." May whispered, pulling back a few moments later.

"Love you too." Ash echoed back, smiling down at her.

Upon their arrival in Floaroma Town, they found that the town was indeed known for its extravagant flowers that seemed to sprout from every orifice of the surrounding area. They were lined in rows between most buildings, they were sticking out of most of the noticeable windowsills, and the more important buildings even had archways twined with the brightly colored bouquets above the entrances.

"Oh! They're all so beautiful!" May squealed, her eyes lighting up like stars at the sight of the thousands of flowers. "And that smell…ohh, this town is amazing!"

"Yeah, you're right." Ash agreed, taking a whiff of the sweet-smelling air. He had never been one for flowers, but even he had to admit it was impressive.

"Pii-ka." Pikachu added, sniffing the air with a pleasant look on its face.

They had come here not only because it was on the way to Eterna City, the site of Ash's next Gym Battle after his previous defeat of Roark in Oreburgh City, but also because it housed a Contest Hall for May, her first one since arriving in Sinnoh.

Breaking with his tradition of starting out on a new journey with just Pikachu, Ash had also brought along his Totodile and Sceptile from his home in Pallet Town. He also captured a Starly almost immediately after arriving, near Sandgem Town.

May, on the other hand, decided to bring her Blaziken, Beautifly, and Eevee, leaving behind her Skitty, Munchlax, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle at her own home in Petalburg City, and she succeeded in capturing a Buizel only a couple of days ago.

After spending a few minutes walking through town and enjoying the fresh aroma, they managed to locate the Pokemon Center. After checking in and procuring themselves a room, a process that had been actually become simpler without Brock around, they dropped their belongings off and made their way to the café area.

"Oh man, this is delicious." Ash breathed in-between bites. It had only been a few minutes, and he was already on his third burger. "I don't think a hamburger has ever tasted so good!"

May would've said something about him eating too much, but she was on her fourth burger herself, and was too busy inhaling the remains of said burger. It had taken them a bit longer to get to town than they would've liked, but they were more than making up for it now.

"Pi-ka-chu." Pikachu chimed happily from Ash's side of the booth, sitting in the space beside him and contentedly draining the ketchup bottle of its contents.

"Looks like Pikachu's enjoying himself." May noted after clearing her tray, chuckling.

"Yeah, sure does." Ash replied, his mouth stuffed full of the remains of his burger.

She sat in silence as she let her food digest, watching Ash choke down the rest of his meal. When he appeared finished, she spoke up. "Hey, Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" She asked softly, her eyes not meeting his.

"…Sure, May. What's going on?" Ash answered, eyeing her with concern.

"I'm just worried about this Contest. I mean…it's my first one in Sinnoh. There's going to be tons of Pokemon out there I've never even seen before, using moves and strategies I've probably never even heard of. What if I'm not good enough for this yet?"

"Ah, come on, May. Don't tell me you believe _that_." Ash remarked, grinning warmly at her. "You've made it into two Grand Festivals already. I know you'll do great."

"…You really think so?"

"Yeah, of course!" Ash assured her confidently.

May was silent for another moment. Then she looked up at Ash and smiled softly at him, grateful for his support. "Thanks, Ash."

Ash nodded, then jumped up from his seat. "No problem. Now, let's go get you signed up for that Contest!"

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_Please R&R!_


	3. Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter

_Hey guys, time for another update. Couple new characters get introduced this time around. _

_Hope you all enjoy!_

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After registering May for the Floaroma Contest, the pair found that they still had two days before it began, and thus decided to go out and spend the remainder of the afternoon training. May hadn't entered a single Contest in Sinnoh prior to this one, and so felt a lingering need to brush up on her skills. And although there was no Gym present in the town, Ash had found it difficult to turn down an opportunity to get some more training in, especially if it was with May.

"All right, Eevee, let's go!" May cried, tossing Eevee's Pokeball out before her. The capsule cracked open in midair, sending forth a blast of white light that quickly reformed into the shape of a small, brown, fox-like creature.

"Eeveeee!" Eevee squealed happily, shaking itself off after being in its Ball for so long.

"Hey, Eevee!" May greeted, catching her Pokeball from the air as it returned to her. "We've got a Contest coming up in a couple of days, so we've got to make sure we're completely ready for it by then, all right?"

"Eevee!" Eevee responded in affirmation.

"All right…then let's see you do a Shadow Ball!"

As Eevee reared back and fired a ghostly black-and-purple projectile from its mouth, Ash watched from the side with a smile on his face before turning and retrieving one of his own Pokeballs.

"Starly, I choose you!" He cried out, chucking the Pokeball high into the sky before a tiny black bird Pokemon was released in a similar fashion to Eevee.

"Staaar!" Starly cawed upon its release, spreading its small wings with delight.

"Hey, Starly!" Ash called excitedly. "You up for some training today?"

"Star, star!" Starly replied energetically, flapping its wings in anticipation.

"Okay then, let's get going! Fly straight up and use Whirlwind!"

Starly did as it was told, taking off in a steep aerial climb before slowing and furiously beating its wings while remaining in place, creating a large gust of wind that blew over the entire field that they had set up on. Dozens of small flower petals were dislodged from their parent and scattered to the wind.

"Nice job! Now use Wing Attack!"

As Starly charged one of its wings with white energy and dove low to the ground, Eevee burst out of the ground on the other side of the field, spraying a flurry of six Shadow Balls in a hexagonal formation.

"Good job, Eevee! Now use Dig once more!" May cried out.

* * *

_Meanwhile, across the region, in the docks district of Sunyshore City… _

A sharp, cool wind blew across the surface of the water in the harbor. It formed a small wave, splashing up against one of the many walkways connecting the docked ships resting in the port. The resulting nautical spray found its way to a pair of two trainers, causing one of the two to shoot their gaze to the side before continuing.

"Are you sure this is the place?" The youth spoke to her partner, the two of them stepping out of the ferry together. They both appeared around the age of seventeen or so. "This place looks pretty…well, pretty." She chuckled to herself at her own joke, noticing how the sunlight glinted and sparkled as it bounced off the many solar panels stationed around the city.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure of it, all right." The male responded knowingly, surveying the surroundings as well. "Sure enough to bring the both of us all the way out here like this."

"If you say so." The girl replied, shrugging – then, a second later, she winced in pain.

"Are you sure you're all right?" The boy inquired, glancing at her injury as she drew in her breath.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." The girl affirmed, managing a grin as the flash of pain gradually subsided. "Guess I just need to watch what I do…"

"Yeah, well, if we're lucky, you won't have to watch yourself for much longer." The boy remarked. "Remember, we're here to find out what caused that."

"Right, I know."

The boy nodded to her. "Then let's get moving."

* * *

"Nice one, Starly!" Ash remarked, having just witnessed Starly's Wing Attack shatter a small rock out in the field. But before he could call out another command, his attention was drawn to the side, where May and Eevee were still training as well.

"Now, Eevee, use Dig!"

Eevee responded by almost immediately halting the charge it had been running and digging a hole underground faster than Ash had thought possible.

"Now finish it up with Tackle, just like we practiced!"

Eevee emerged from the ground in a flash a second later, barreling head-first into the air before flipping forward and landing perfectly on all fours with a pose.

"All right, Eevee! That was great!" May remarked, running forward and cuddling her Pokemon in her arms as it happily returned the affection.

"Piika." Pikachu chimed, tugging on Ash's leg and snapping him out of his trance.

"Yeah." Ash replied, nodding. "She's really great, isn't she?"

They both resumed their training after that, continuing for another hour or so, but after a long day out in the warm sun, they were both ready to call it quits by the time the sky began to grow dark.

"Great job today, Starly. You deserve a rest." Ash said, recalling his newest Pokemon before wandering over to join May as she did the same.

"Good work, Eevee! I feel like you're ready for this Contest already!" She encouraged, before recalling her Pokemon as well and was joined by Ash.

"You ready to start heading back?" He asked her, Pikachu bounding up on his shoulder as he did.

She nodded, and the two began walking back toward the Pokemon Center side by side, so close that their shoulders almost bumped while they were moving.

They quickly discovered that nightfall in Floaroma Town didn't mean much to the local populace when it came to the image of their city. Almost all of the flowers that were mounted on a structure had a small light in the center that shone brilliantly when the ambient light became dark enough.

Ash and May spent some time admiring the lights display, especially May. Not too far from the Pokemon Center, however, while May was busy admiring a particularly impressive display involving some Illumise mixed in with the flowers, and Ash was preoccupied with watcher her, they turned a corner and bumped head-on into a strange someone they'd never met before.

"Ouch…" May mumbled, holding her nose with both hands. Although she had been walking at a leisurely pace, the other member of the collision had been moving at a significantly faster speed.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry!" The stranger replied urgently. He had been holding a stack of five or six books, and, of course, had managed to drop all of them during the fall. He was hurriedly attempting to gather them all back up in his arms. "Are you both all right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Ash answered, kneading his shoulder, which had received the brunt of the blow on his part. "May?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay." May affirmed, removing her hands from her face a moment later. "Where were you going in such a hurry, anyway? And with all those books?"

"Oh…well, you see…I've been doing some research about Mount Coronet recently…" He began, stacking the last of his books back up and rising to his feet. He has short, black hair and a thin pair of glasses resting on his nose, and wore a dark gold button-up shirt with a black t-shirt underneath it, and simple blue pants.

"Mount Coronet?" Ash questioned, crossing his arms across his chest in confusion.

"You, uh…haven't heard of it?" The researcher replied, momentarily at a loss. Then he noticed Pikachu perched on Ash's shoulder. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?"

"Not really." May answered, chuckling. "By the way, my name's May."

"And I'm Ash."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Chance, I live just down the road from the Pokemon Center, which I'm assuming is where you guys were heading?" When they nodded, he continued, "Well, anyway, Mount Coronet is that giant peak you've probably been noticing off in the distance ever since you got here. It's pretty much visible from just about anywhere in Sinnoh."

At his words, Ash and May panned their heads over to the side, focusing on the enormous mountain range off in the distance for the first time. "Really? Mount Coronet, huh…" Ash mused.

"There's a lot of weird myths and conspiracies surrounding it. That's what I've been doing my research on lately."

"Research? Why are you doing so much research in the first place?" May asked as the three continued back down the illuminated street to the Pokemon Center.

"Yeah, wouldn't it be easier just to go there and find out the stuff for yourself?" Ash added.

"Well…maybe it sounds easier, to somebody like you." Chance answered softly. "The truth is, I don't really get out and travel that much. I prefer to just sit in my room at home and read about something rather than go out and see it…"

"Well, I can't say I know what that feels like." Ash admitted, shooting him a sad grin as they arrived at the front of the Center.

"I'm not surprised. You go your way and I'll go mine, I guess, and we'll both be none the wiser. Eh?" Chance offered, grinning at the two of them as he began to step away, edging further down the street. "Nice meeting you guys, though. Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime!"

"Yeah, I hope so. Maybe you can tell us more about that mountain." Ash remarked, raising his hand in farewell along with May's.

"Bye!" Chance cried out, raising his hand in response before he disappeared off down the road.

"That guy was nice. A little clumsy, though." May spoke as the pair entered the Pokemon Center's main lobby.

"Yeah. Was it just me, or did he remind you a lot of Max?"

"Hmm." May replied, thinking about for a moment. "Now that I think about it…you're right."

The two ascended the staircase in the back and found their way to their two-bed room they were staying in. They began getting ready to turn in for the night. They dumped their packs against the far wall, removed their respective headgear, and so on. Pikachu took it upon himself to immediately find a suitable position on the floor.

Just before they were about to crawl into bed, however, May crossed the room and hugged Ash tightly.

"What do you think we should do tomorrow?" May asked, looking up at him from within their embrace as Ash wrapped his own arms around her as well.

"What do you think?" Ash responded knowingly. "More training, of course!"

"Of course." May chortled, nuzzling her head against his chest before pulling away from him and crossing back to her bed, Ash climbing into his own bed as well. "'Night."

"'Night."

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_Please R&R!_


	4. Chapter 4: Bad Dreams

_This chapter will probably remind the keen among you guys of Darkest of Days III from the first fic. Like that chapter, this one ended up being split in half for length purposes, even though I hadn't originally planned to do so. And so, much like that chapter, this one probably feels a little incomplete on its own. _

* * *

"_All right, Sceptile!" Ash cried out fiercely, pointing out across the rocky battlefield. "Use Leaf Blade!"_

"_Scep-tile!" Sceptile growled in response, launching itself across the field after summoning its weapons._

_May blinked, taken by surprise at the setting. "Ash?"_

_To her right was indeed Ash, looking no different than he usually did, with his Sceptile apparently battling for him at the moment. Pikachu, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. He didn't seem to notice her presence there at all._

_To her left, on the other hand, was a mysterious figure seemingly cloaked in shadows, preventing May from seeing who it was, though she was able to infer that it was male. He was battling Ash's Sceptile with a stout black Pokemon brandishing a pair of claws, and red feathers decorating its neck. May didn't recognize it, and so she assumed that it was a species unique to Sinnoh. _

"_Dodge it, quick, Weavile! To the side!" The shadowy figure called out. The voice sounded exceedingly familiar to May, but she couldn't quite figure out who it belonged to. _

"_Wea-vile!" Weavile screeched, strafing to the side with ease as Sceptile slashed toward it. _

"_Now use Blizzard!"_

"_Weeeeaviiiile!" Weavile roared, rearing back and blasting Sceptile with a chilling blast of ice and wind pouring forth from its mouth. _

"_Scep - !" Sceptile grunted in pain, freezing on the spot as the attack shook him right to the core._

"_Sceptile!" Ash cried out helplessly, reaching a concerned hand out toward his ailing Pokemon._

_Then, the scene seemed to melt before May's eyes._

_Ash and the mysterious man, as well as their Pokemon, seemed to blur into the background, and then the rugged mountainous terrain that was the background melted as well, leaving May suspended in blackness for a moment. Then, a new scene melded into existence. _

_Now, she seemed to actually be inside of one of the mountains. A number of people she didn't recognize were present, and none of them seemed to notice her any more than Ash or the shadowed figure had. They were all clad in a plain grayish-black uniform with a stylized 'G' emblazoned on the chest. _

"_At last…" The largest of the strangers rumbled. He had spiky gray hair, and given his stature, and the way the others in the room yielded to him, May assumed he was the leader of the group. He was gesturing with a sweeping motion to three small pedestals further down the chamber, where two of the other strangers were standing, both female, one with bright red hair and one with dark purple. "The Guardians have been gathered…"_

_Glancing down slightly, May also noticed that a second shadowed figure was with the group of strangers, covered in much the same way that Ash's opponent was in the last scene. The figure seemed to be tied up and on the floor, at the feet of some of the less-important looking members of the group. The figure seemed to glance up sadly as the others all observed what the large man was talking about._

_Suddenly, the three pedestals sprang to life, each glowing with a different colored energy: blue, red, and yellow. After a moment, a beam of energy shot into the center of the three from each of them, forming a giant vortex at the point where the all struck. _

"_Yes!" The man boomed, whilst the others all watched with expectant eyes as the vortex split off into two portals, one dark blue and one dark pink. The entire chamber seemed to tremble with energy as the rushing sound of the two portals drowned out the rest of the noise. _

_What appeared to be two different Pokemon each began to emerge from their own respective portal, and though they weren't cloaked in shadow, May had no idea what they were. Just as they were about to fully emerge, the scene melted away just as quickly as the first, leaving only the lingering sound of the man's laugher ringing in May's head as she slowly began to wake up._

May jolted herself upright, awaking with a start. After taking a second to realize that she had just awoken from her dream, she looked around the room and found Ash and Pikachu already up, the former pulling on his vest as the morning sun bathed the room with vivid light.

"What was that all about…?" May mumbled to herself somewhat groggily. "Was it just a dream? It seemed so real…"

"Huh?" Ash said, turning around as he heard her speak. "Oh, hey, you're up. 'Morning."

"Y-yeah…'morning." May replied, rubbing her head. "I just had the weirdest dream…"

"Oh yeah?" Ash remarked, a hint of interest on the edge of his voice. He crossed the room and held out his hand toward her.

"Yeah…" She reached out and grasped his hand, allowing Ash to help her to her feet. "I saw you battling some guy with…with some Pokemon from here in Sinnoh."

"A trainer in Sinnoh, huh?" Ash replied, eyes shifting to the floor for a second as he racked his brains.

"And then…" May continued, stopping herself before explaining about the men in gray attempting to summon the two large Pokemon. It was one thing to have a dream about Ash having a battle; after all, that kind of thing happened all the time. But what would he think if she told him the other half? She silently decided not to divulge that bit of the dream to him…at least, not yet. "…ah, it doesn't really matter. It was probably just something I ate, anyway."

"Yeah, probably." Ash agreed, shrugging as Pikachu climbed up onto his head. "Anyway, you should go ahead and get ready. We've got a full day of training ahead of us!"

May nodded back enthusiastically, shoving the matter of her strange dream to the back of her mind. "Yeah, you're right. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be good to go!"

As it turned out, 'a few minutes' ended up being almost an hour, but it didn't bother Ash as much as it might have in the old days. He'd been getting used to this sort of thing recently.

The two went back to the field from the previous day, and were able to go the entire day without a hitch in their schedule. They also ran into Chance again, although he had no books with him this time; he told them that he was merely going to the store this time to pick up a few things.

When they turned in for the night back at the Pokemon Center, May was initially nervous about going to sleep after her encounter the previous night, but after she did she found that she was able to sleep calmly throughout the night.

The following morning, the two wasted no time in getting out the door early, as they both knew that it was the morning of the Floaroma Contest. They made it to the Contest Hall with time to spare, and May was one of the first Coordinators to register.

However, as they began milling around the lobby to burn time waiting for the Contest to start, they both began to notice something slightly off about themselves compared to the others who were waiting.

"Is it just me…" May began slowly, eyeing a blue-haired girl across the lobby with a fancy pink dress on. "…or is everyone else here all dressed up?"

"Yeah, you're right." Ash muttered, also noticing a number of male competitors dressed in suits. "I wonder why?"

"You don't know?" A familiar voice uttered, and Ash and May spun around to find Chance standing behind them, completely devoid of books and eyeing them both closely. "Oh, I forgot, this is your first time competing in a Contest here, isn't it?"

When May nodded, he continued. "Well, see, it's just sort of a tradition here in Sinnoh for the Coordinators as well as the Pokemon to look good for the audience. So, most all Coordinators attend their Contests in fancy clothing."

"Fancy clothes?" May groaned, her face falling as she did so. "But I don't have anything like that!" She sighed, her excitement over the Contest slowly fading. "I'll look like a total idiot if I go out there looking like this…"

"Hey, I wouldn't worry so much about it." Chance assured her. "It's not a requirement or anything."

"Yeah, come on, May." Ash added, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You look great even without all that other stuff!"

May knew that this was merely another instance of Ash saying something extremely important to her without really realizing it, but it had the same effect all the same. She smiled at him gratefully before suddenly remembering that there _was_ something she could do. She reached into her pack and pulled out the emerald-colored flower Ash had given her back in Kanto. "Thanks, Ash. And I've still got this, right?" She reached up and fit it snugly into place on the bridge of her ear, so that it poked out just past her hair.

"Yeah, you see?" Ash remarked, grinning at her happily. "I told you."

May then turned to Chance with a questioning look on her face. "So, uh…what are you doing here, exactly?"

"Me? Oh, I just came down to watch the Contest." Chance answered aloofly. "I thought it might make a nice break from my research."

Suddenly, a feminine voice boomed into the lobby over the loudspeaker. "Attention! The Contest will be starting shortly, so contestants, please make your way to the waiting rooms! As for the rest of you, feel free to head on into the arena and find yourselves a seat!"

May turned and beamed at the others, gaining back some of her vigor. "I guess that's my cue. Wish me luck, you guys!"

"Yeah! Trust me, May, you'll do great!" Ash remarked encouragingly, smiling back at her.

"Good luck!" Chance said, raising a hand in farewell as she joined the group of Coordinators heading into the back hallway.

"Pika, pikachu." Pikachu piped up, who had been silent throughout all of this.

"Yeah, you're right, buddy." Ash agreed, turning toward the now-open doors of the stadium. "Come on, Chance. Let's go find some seats before they're all gone!"

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	5. Chapter 5: Espeon Takes The Stage

_I have recently become addicted to Pokemon White, so those of you that also have the game already will probably catch the reference to a certain Unova Pokemon that I snuck into this one._

_As always, enjoy!_

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"…Allllll right! For our next appeal, put your hands together for this Coordinator's debut appearance here in Sinnoh…May, of Petalburg City!" The female announcer boomed.

The crowd cheered wildly as May rushed out onto the stage. It had been roughly half an hour or so since the Appeals Round began, and she had been waiting nervously in the staging room the entire time, watching with growing apprehension as Coordinator after Coordinator performed their beautifully rehearsed routines.

But now, it was her turn, and her recent feelings of stage fright had turned to adrenaline. Grinning widely, with a burning look in her eyes, she gracefully tossed her Pokeball and cried out, "All right, Buizel! Take the stage!"

"Bui-bui!" Buizel remarked, bursting onto the stage with just as much energy as its trainer.

She eyed her newest Pokemon proudly as she caught the Pokeball on its return trip. Buizel and May had been practicing for this very contest for the last few days before arriving in town, and despite it being a recent catch, May felt that Buizel was ready.

"All right, Buizel, start things off with Swift!" May called.

"Bui!" Buizel chirped, leaping up and spinning to the side at May's word. A stream of shining golden stars shot off from its tail as it did so, leaving a flurry of them flying high above the stage when it landed.

"Now use Water Gun!"

"Buiiiii!" Buizel gurgled, shooting a steady stream of water from its mouth at the golden projectiles it had just created.

"That's it, Buizel! Knock them out of the sky!"

Buizel carefully guided its Water Gun through the air so that it buffeted each and every one of the stars it had shot off along a predetermined path. As it did, the stars were all knocked away from the blast of water, and left a shimmering golden trail in their wake as they spiraled away and disappeared.

A moderate amount of applause came from this, spurring May onward – she had done far worse in the past with first-time Pokemon in a Contest. "Good job, Buizel! Now use Agility, and run straight ahead!"

"Bui-bui!" Buizel acknowledged, bending down onto all fours and taking off at a fast forward sprint as afterimages began appearing in its wake.

"Now combine it with Aqua Jet!"

Buizel obliged by leaping into the air and surrounding itself with a liquid cocoon, boosting itself forward with a constant spray of water behind it. It veered to the side as it neared the edge of the stage, beginning to streak around the air in a spiral, leaving behind a suspended stream of water.

After a few times around the stage, a gigantic whirlpool shape had been created by the trail of water, with Buizel still streaking ahead at the top. "Buizel, finish with Agility straight back down!"

"Bui!" Buizel replied, breaking out of its Aqua Jet spiral and positioning itself so that it was suspended in midair above the center of the spiral, which was beginning to dissipate. Then, it launched itself straight down, headfirst, at lightning speed, causing the water spiral to be blown outward by the wind surge.

Buizel landed gracefully on one knee as the giant whirlpool shape pulsed outward and was blown away, causing glistening droplets of water to scatter amongst the crowd.

The crowd erupted with applause as May raised her arms to signify the end of her appeal. Her face lit up when she saw the positive reaction, and Buizel smiled to itself as well

"What a stunning performance, combining the grace and beauty of the water with the ferocious speed of Agility!" The announcer remarked as the cheering continued.

"Great job, May!" Ash roared amidst the din of the applause.

May then made her exit by bowing in unison with Buizel before making their way off stage.

By the time they had made it back to the waiting room, the final appeal had already begun. May spared the wall-mounted monitor a glance and saw a male Coordinator using a strange-looking yellow spider Pokemon she wasn't familiar with. After watching it spin a complex series of what looked like electrified webbing to start off its performance, she looked down at Buizel, who had also been watching the screen curiously.

"You were really great out there! I think we did pretty good."

"Bui bui!" Buizel declared confidently.

"I sure hope so." May agreed, producing Buizel's Pokeball from her pack. "Now you have a nice long rest."

May ended up making it to the next round, and was one of the first selected for the battle matchups. She went up against a guy with a Chimecho, but her Eevee was able to defeat it after a somewhat difficult battle with much encouragement from May.

Once past that, her Eevee also scraped a victory in the semifinals against the man with the yellow spider Pokemon, which, to May's surprise, her Pokedex couldn't identify.

"You were amazing out there, Eevee!" May praised after the semifinal match. It was now late in the afternoon, and all of the other Coordinators had disappeared from the staging area. She wondered where her final opponent was, but she had nothing else to do except simply wait around until it was time for the match.

"Vee!" Eevee remarked happily, beaming up at its trainer. Despite having already been through two tough battles, it looked just as eager to fight as it had earlier in the day.

Suddenly, the monitor on the wall blinked to life, showing the announcer as she began to speak. "All right! The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived! If our two finalists would please make their way to the arena for the conclusion of this year's Floaroma Town Pokemon Contest…!"

The screen flashed to a view of the two remaining Coordinators' portraits. One was May…and the other was a young-looking blue haired girl that May thought she had seen in one of the previous rounds.

"All right, Eevee. Are you ready?"

"Ee-vee!"

May grinned as she recalled her Pokemon. Then, taking a deep breath, she moved forward, into the hall leading to the stage.

Once she arrived in the arena, she found that her opponent was already ready and waiting at the opposite end. It was indeed a blue-haired girl in a fancy pink dress that looked no older than eleven, yet she had a look in her eyes that told May she was no novice at this.

"All right then!" The announcer boomed once May had taken her place across from the other girl. "The final round will be between May, of Petalburg City, and Dawn, of Twinleaf Town! If both sides are ready…then let the match begin!"

The clock below their points bars on the scoreboard suddenly began counting down.

"All right, Eevee! Take the stage!" May cried, releasing her brown fox Pokemon for the third time that day.

"Eevee!" It chirped, landing on all fours out on the field.

"Pachirisu, spotlight!" Dawn announced, tossing her own Pokeball out and releasing a relatively small, white Pokemon with a long tail and cheeks similar to Pikachu's.

May, quite aware of the ticking clock, didn't want to waste time getting out her Pokedex. Instead, she jumped right on the offensive. "Eevee, use Shadow Ball!"

Eevee very quickly shot out a black ball of spectral energy from its mouth, intending to not give Pachirisu time to dodge.

"Pachirisu, jump straight up and use Discharge!"

"Chu-pa!" Pachirisu squeaked, bounding directly up far out of Shadow Ball's range, which ended up hitting the ground harmlessly, causing May's points to go down slightly. Then Pachirisu squeezed its cheeks and fired a surge of blue electricity across the stage at Eevee.

Meanwhile, up in the stands, Ash couldn't help but pull out his Pokedex and scan Eevee's opponent.

"_Pachirisu, the EleSquirrel Pokemon. Pachirisu make electricity with pouches in their cheeks and shoot charges from their tails. They like to gather fruit and hide them under the eaves of houses_."

"Pachirisu…" Ash mumbled to himself. "It sounds like they're a lot like you, buddy. And if that's true…May might have a tough time defeating one…"

"Piika…" Pikachu agreed, nodding, its eyes glued on the stage.

"Eevee, dodge it and use Tackle!"

"Ee-vee, ee-VEE!" Eevee chanted, dancing backward for a second to get away from the closing Discharge, then breaking into a full forward run to get around it. Dawn's points went down slightly, but not enough to make it even with May's

As Pachirisu fell back to the ground and ceased firing Discharge, Eevee closed in, leaping forward at the last moment and aiming to slam into Pachirisu head-on.

"Now, Pachirisu! Spark!"

"Chuu-pa!" Pachirisu cried, squeezing its cheeks again just as Eevee was about to make contact. Its whole body suddenly surged with an electrical aura, which Eevee then ran straight in to.

"Eeeee!" Eevee screeched, being hit with the full force of the crippling Electric-type attack.

"Eevee!" May cried, as Pachirisu shoved back and landed near Dawn's side of the field, while Eevee fell and landed somewhere in the middle of the field. May's points dropped harshly, bringing her down to just below half.

"Pachirisu, use Discharge again!" Dawn called.

"Chupa chupa!" Pachirisu grunted, squeezing its cheeks yet again and firing off another arcing blue lightning bolt from its body.

"Eevee, quick, use Dig!"

"Vree - !" Eevee grunted, hastily eking out a tunnel to crawl into as an escape from Pachirisu's attack. Once inside, the Discharge bolt skimmed right over the rim of the hole before fizzling out of existence. Dawn's points dropped by another small amount, putting her at just above a quarter.

"Watch out, Pachirisu. That Eevee could come up from anywhere…" Dawn murmured.

"Chupaaa…" Pachirisu grunted warily, glancing around the stage nervously, waiting for Eevee to reappear.

A moment later, it did just that. Eevee burst out of the ground from directly under Pachirisu, who was just barely able to jump back out of the way.

Dawn was stunned by Eevee's sudden appearance, but quickly recovered. "Pachirisu, quick, like we practiced! Electric Tail!"

"Electric…Tail?" May wondered, but a second later, she got her answer.

"Chuuu-pa!" Pachirisu grunted, charging up its body with Spark and then flipping forward, slamming Eevee out of the air with just its charged tail.

"No! Eevee!" May cried as Eevee was thrown back across the stage, skidding across the ground almost to May's feet. May's points dropped yet again, leaving her at roughly 30%.

Panting heavily, it attempted to rise a moment later, under the watchful eye of Pachirisu and Dawn, but to no avail – its legs gave out from under and it fell flat on its stomach.

May glanced at the scoreboard with gritted teeth. There was almost no comparing the two sliders – Dawn still had almost a full bar while May was already down to almost a quarter of her original total. The countdown clock still had three minutes left, but that didn't leave May with much hope.

"_Come on, May…"_ Ash thought helplessly.

Suddenly, just as Dawn was about to call the finishing attack, Eevee's body erupted in a flash of light that turned its entire body to a shapeless white sheen.

"Huh?" May started, shocked by this sudden occurrence.

"No way…" Ash muttered, knowing full well what that light signified when coming from a Pokemon.

"Piikaa…" Pikachu added, staring at the glowing light in surprise.

The white mass formerly known as Eevee began to shift and expand until finally, a few moments later, it faded away, leaving a larger, furrier, lavender-colored fox with pointed ears and a red orb set in its forehead where Eevee had been moments before.

"Oh, my! It appears that May's Eevee has just evolved mid-battle!" The announcer declared. "But will that be enough to turn this battle around for her?"

"You…evolved?" May breathed, having no choice but to pull out her Pokedex. It didn't seem to matter this time, as Dawn seemed just as entranced by the evolution as everyone else in the room.

"_Espeon, the Sun Pokemon. Espeon are able to use the fine hair on their body to read air currents, and they frequently use these readings to predict the future."_

"Speeeeeee!" Espeon shrieked, the previous battle damage it had taken seemingly gone.

"Espeon…" May murmured, testing the sound of the name. Then, remembering the ticking timer and her low points, she glared across the stage at Dawn and Pachirisu with newfound confidence. "You ready to finish this, Espeon?"

"Eee!" Espeon acknowledged, lowering its head in response.

"Just be careful, Pachirisu! We can still win! Now use Discharge!" Dawn called.

"Chu-paaa!" Pachirisu cried, though now it was starting to grow weary of firing its electricity.

After double-checking the Pokedex to see what new moves it learned, May countered with, "Espeon, jump out of the way and use Shadow Ball!"

"Spee!" Espeon remarked, leaping away just as the Discharge bolt was about to make contact and firing a Shadow Ball at the vulnerable Pachirisu from midair. It struck, sending Pachirisu flying backward as Espeon nimbly landed back on the floor. Dawn's points fell harshly for the first time, bringing her down to roughly 50%.

Now it was Dawn's turn to grit her teeth. "Pachirisu, run at it and use Spark!"

"Chuuuu-pa-chu-pa-chu-pa!" Pachirisu chanted, getting down on all fours and breaking into a sprint across the stage to Espeon as its body charged up with electricity.

Espeon didn't move, simply staring Pachirisu down as it hastily closed the distance between the two. When it was within striking distance, May finally reacted.

"Espeon, jump up and back!"

Espeon responded instantly, going into a backwards leap, which Pachirisu quickly duplicated in an attempt to follow it.

May smiled when she saw this. "Now, use Shadow Ball again!"

"Eeee!" Espeon chimed, loosing another Shadow Ball from its mouth and striking Pachirisu at point-blank range in midair, sending the Electric-type crashing down to the ground. Dawn lost another hefty chunk of points.

"Pachirisu!" Dawn cried as Espeon landed gracefully on the edge of the field.

"Now use Psybeam!" May ordered, calling the newly evolved Pokemon's newest move.

"Ee – speeeeeee!" Espeon roared, firing a rainbow-colored blast of energy from the red stone in its forehead. The beam streaked across the stage and slammed into Pachirisu, who had yet to recover from the previous attack.

"No!" Dawn uttered, just as her points counter reached zero – but it didn't matter anyway. Pachirisu had been knocked out.

"And that's zero points!" The announcer declared, half a second before the audience exploded in deafening applause. May and Eevee's portraits flashed across the scoreboard, just above WINNER. "And the victory goes to May and Espeon!"

"All right! Way to go, May!" Ash cheered amidst the rest of the onlookers.

May was beaming as she bowed to the audience along with Espeon, and she couldn't help but notice Dawn's slumped shoulders as she recalled her injured Pachirisu.

"And for winning this year's Floaroma Pokemon Contest, she will be presented with the Floaroma Ribbon!"

May crossed the stage, along with Espeon, and approached the announcer, who was brandishing the shining golden crest adorned with white-and-purple cloth.

She took the ribbon gingerly and spun around, holding it up for the crowd to see, which only caused them to cheer even harder. And as she stood there, with the entire audience cheering for her, along with Ash, and her newly evolved partner standing next to her, she felt an immense wave of contentment wash over her.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	6. Chapter 6: Déjà Vu

_Sorry it's taken so long to update! I've had numerous issues going on lately, such as getting a new rig, coming down with a sinus infection, and family visiting, and I just couldn't find the time to write more these last couple of weeks. _

_Hope you enjoy the chapter after all that wait...though it might be a bit confusing._

_

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_

Chapter Six: Déjà Vu

_May blinked, not quite sure what was happening. She seemed to be floating in an endless sea of dark neon blue, suspended in the nothingness by an unknown force. Her bandana also seemed to be missing, causing her hair to float freely in the empty space as well._

"_Where…am I?" She attempted to say, but no sound came out. Her mouth hadn't even moved, as far she could tell. _

_She looked around, pivoting on her invisible axis, and found nothing at first glance…but then, when she looked closer, a bright sphere of blue energy was barely visible, teetering on the edge of her field of vision._

_Before she could even wonder what it was, the entire space around her surged forward, as if the area itself was closing the distance between her and the sphere. Within seconds, she was almost directly in front of it._

_The sphere of energy was fairly large, at least twice her own size, and seemed to hum with life. She briefly contemplated reaching out and touching it, but before she could come to a decision, the giant orb slowly began peeling itself away from the top. Moments later, it was gone, revealing the lifeform it had been cradling, and causing May to draw in her breath when she saw it._

_A giant silver and blue quadruped towered before her, hovering in the empty space just as she was. It had a rigid tail and a stout head, both of which jutted straight out of opposing ends of the creature's torso. A gleaming silver diamond was embedded in a slot just under its neck._

"_What __**is**__ that?" May wondered, attempting to speak again and having just as much success as the previous time. "A Pokemon?"_

_The creature, whatever it was, didn't seem to notice her, but a pained expression was etched on its face. Although the blue sphere around it had vanished, sparks of what appeared to be blue electricity were intermittently surging through its body, and soon it had slumped to one knee, grunting through gritted teeth._

"_I've got to help it!" May thought, attempting to move forward, but to her surprise she found that, like her mouth, the rest of her body appeared to be frozen as well. _

_The blue sparks continued shooting across the Pokemon's body, and it slowly started disintegrating into small particles of blue light from the rear first. It appeared to be straining heavily now, its face contorted in a mix of pain and fatigue. As the rest of its body faded away into nothing, its head reared back and let loose a deafening roar._

"NO!" May cried, jumping up from her position in bed and almost slamming into Ash's head in the process.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ash asked, jerking his head back to avoid being hit. He had been leaning over her, about to wake her himself. Pikachu was still curled up against the wall across the chamber.

May blinked again, staring off into space for a second as she realized that she had been dreaming. Breathing heavily, she turned to face him. "I was…dreaming…I think. But it was weird…"

"Another dream?" Ash grilled, sinking into deep thought for just a moment or two. "I dunno. Maybe they're all connected or something."

"You think so?" May breathed, taking a moment to take this over, recalling the events of the three dreams she'd had over the past week or so. "I don't know…nothing seems similar between them…"

"Ah well." Ash shrugged, seemingly brushing off the subject. "Anyway, aren't you excited? Today's your big Contest, remember?"

May stared back at him in shock. "My – Contest? Ash, that was yesterday."

Now it was Ash's turn to blink in confusion. "Yesterday?"

"Yeah…" May replied, climbing out of her bed and walking across the rooms, putting a hand to her chin in the process. "You and Chance were both there. Remember?"

Ash merely stared at her in bewilderment. "May, are you sure?"

"…Yeah, and my Eevee evolved into an Espeon during the final battle!" May announced, as if she'd just won a great victory. "This should jog your memory – Espeon, come on out!"

Nothing happened for a moment, but then a burst of light erupted from her pack across the room, and Eevee emerged on the ground in front of it, its black eyes staring at May in confusion, its head cocked slightly to the side.

"Vee?" It asked, almost sadly.

"Ee-Eevee…?" May rasped, staring at her Pokemon as if it were a ghost. "But…you evolved, didn't you? In the battle with Pachirisu yesterday?"

"I dunno, May." Ash offered, glancing back and forth between Eevee and May. "Maybe you had a dream about the Contest, too."

"A dream?" May remarked, briefly considering that possibility. "No…it couldn't have been – "

Suddenly, for a split second, a flash of blue engulfed everything in the room, causing Ash and May both to recoil slightly and blink several times to readjust. A second later, the flash was gone, and nothing seemed to have changed…except Espeon was now sitting where Eevee had been the previous moment.

Silence permeated the air for what seemed like forever, until finally Espeon cocked its head to the side and mewed quietly. "Spee?"

"What just happened…?" May wondered, looking around the room before centering on Espeon.

"I'm…not sure." Ash replied slowly, also looking around the room groggily, as if he'd just woken up. "I think we were talking about your…Espeon?"

"Maybe…" May halfway agreed, continuing to stare at the Psychic-type Pokemon. "Espeon, um…are you doing all right?"

"Speee!" Espeon replied jovially.

"Okay, then…uh…return."

And, without a second thought, Espeon happily let itself back into its Pokeball, still tucked away in May's pack.

Ash and May glanced to each other briefly, then merely shrugged.

May had then proceeded to take a shower and get ready as usual, recalling that they had a long day of travel ahead of them after bidding farewell to Chance back at his house. Pikachu also woke up during this, and joined Ash on his shoulder as he waited for May to finish.

While in the shower, May had briefly pondered the strange events of the morning, but found that it was difficult to remember exactly what had happened before letting Espeon out of its ball. She eventually just decided to write the whole thing off as an extension of her dream and forget about it.

Roughly half an hour later, May emerged from the bathroom fully clothed, though her hair was still damp and was laying flat.

Ash perked up when heard the door open, jumping up from his seat and turning, only to slump slightly when he saw her wet hair. "You're not ready yet?"

"Nope." May answered coyly, giggling as she walked past him. "I just needed…a…"

But she was cut off when a second sudden burst of light flooded the room. However, the blast was pink this time, and lingered for a few moments longer than the previous blue flash before fully dissipating.

Pikachu, who had been on the floor near Ash's feet, suddenly began swaying on the spot. "Pii..kaaa…"

"Pi…kachu…" Ash managed, glancing down at his partner just before the small yellow mouse Pokemon passed out, almost as if in a stupor.

Ash blinked, bringing his eyes back up to May in confusion as he gradually brought his arms up behind him for balance, which he had suddenly begun to lose.

"Ash…?" May uttered lightly, seeming to experience a similar phenomenon. She brought her arms up beside her in an attempt to remain standing, but then she felt herself wildly go off balance, and she managed to fling herself toward the nearest available grip – Ash.

She latched both hands onto his shoulders, managing to use his own weight to stay upright. Ash, however, seemed to have found a momentary balance point, and simply stared back at her as she brought herself close to him.

May looked up and stared back a moment later, the boundaries that held the two back previously seeming to shatter.

The two leaned in and tenderly let their lips connect. Ash tweaked his head slightly, leaning further in to the kiss, prompting May to do the same a moment later. Their moment continued for much longer than it should have, and before long May was opening her mouth to it, something that the two had only attempted once before so far.

As the kiss slowly progressed further, it wasn't long before Ash had opened his mouth to it as well, and a minute or two led to the two of them finally losing their balance, though it wasn't clear if it was due to the effects of the pink flash or the actions of the pair themselves. Their kiss broke as they tumbled down backward onto May's bed, with Ash hitting first and May landing on top of him.

The two stopped momentarily, eyeing each other, and, for a moment, it almost seemed as if they would give and stop right then. But their awareness had been all but shattered long ago, and through that their sense of reason. Now emotion was all that remained.

May leaned down and kissed him again when she saw the look on his face, and the two continued from where they had left off.

Pikachu didn't wake up until they were already on the road again.

All at once, a rush of feelings and sensations swept into Ash's head, and May's as well.

Looking around, they realized that they were on a road leading straight forward through a mostly empty landscape, with no noticeable landmarks save for the large mountain range off in the distance.

"Huh?" Ash remarked, looking around their immediate area in utter confusion, noticing May doing the same thing. "How did we…?"

They both had their packs on, and Pikachu was perched on Ash's shoulder as per usual. If they didn't know any better, they would say that they were out travelling somewhere.

"Ash?" May piped up, coming up beside him with a blank look on her face. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue." Ash replied glumly. "The last thing I remember is…"

He stopped, May catching his eye, causing them both to blush slightly. They both had the same recollection of the events in the Pokemon Center.

"Piika…?" Pikachu chirped confusedly, clearly just as bewildered by the day's events by the rest of them.

"Look, even Pikachu's confused." May remarked. "This just doesn't make any sense…"

"Agh…" Ash grumbled, scratching his head. "It gives me a headache thinking about this. Come on, let's just keep going…uh, where exactly _are_ we going?"

"Hmm…" May pondered, struggling to recall their plans after leaving Floaroma Town. Assuming that's the last town they had been to, of course. "…Eterna City, wasn't it?"

"That…sounds right." Ash answered after a moment.

"Pika." Pikachu chimed in, agreeing with the consensus.

"All right then. Eterna City it is!" May declared, happy to have figured at least something out from the confusing day.

"Yeah. Let's get going!" Ash added excitedly.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	7. Chapter 7: Beneath the Starry Sky

_Hey guys! You thought I'd forgotten about this fic, didn't you? Yeah, no, I know, it's okay. I did kind of abandon it for a while due to other concerns, but now it's all good, and I have no intention of leaving this story without its proper ending. _

_So, hope you guys didn't get too anxious waiting(yeah, right), and here's to the rest of the fic!_

* * *

A thick layer of stars blanketed the dark sky that night, illuminating the area a good deal more than usual. Ash and May's campfire cast additional light on top of this, resulting in the open field that they had settled down in for the night was almost completely lit up, the cloud of ambient light stretching almost to the trees surrounding the plain.

Their bags had been laid beside one another on the ground near the fire, with their respective headgear place on top. Although the two had finished their meal of canned beans a short while ago, Pikachu was still picking scraps out of his Pokemon food dish, muttering grunts of satisfaction to itself all the while.

Ash and May themselves, however, were situated a ways back from the campfire. Lying in the grass, propped up on their arms, they were staring up at the glistening night sky together.

"They're so pretty…" May uttered, her gaze transfixed on the sparkling black plain above her.

"Yeah…" Ash murmured back, the sight of the stars taking him back to another such night in the past, on which he had seen a shooting star. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he couldn't recall ever telling May about that particular event.

"Hey, May…?" He began slowly.

"Yeah?" She answered, shifting her gaze from the sky down to Ash.

"D'you remember…that one night, back in Kanto…when we had to take a second boat to Chrysanthemum Island after helping Spenser?"

May thought for a moment, then smiled. "'Course I remember. That was just a couple of days before we…" She trailed off, a light blush appearing across her cheeks.

Ash blinked. "Before we…?"

She looked back at him with caring eyes. "…well, before we kissed for the first time."

"…Oh. Right." Ash mumbled, scratching the back of his head pointedly, embarrassed that he had forgotten that detail. "Well, uh, that night, on the boat, me and Pikachu actually saw a shooting star."

May's eyes widened. "Really…?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, and, uh, I wished that you'd be with me…forever."

Silence hung in the air for a moment as May stared at him, his eyes focused on the ground. Then she giggled.

"What? What's so funny?" Ash said defensively.

"Nothing. It's just…" She paused for a moment. "…you weren't the only one who wished on that star."

It took a moment for Ash to realize what she was saying. "What? You mean…you did too?"

May nodded in response, now lowering her own gaze to the ground. "Yeah. And I…well, I wished that you'd stay with me, no matter what happened."

Ash merely stared at her, unsure of how to respond. May's gaze remained on the ground as she smiled to herself, momentarily at a loss for words herself.

A cool breeze swept past them as they remained frozen, extinguishing the campfire where Pikachu had just finished the last of its dinner and was curling up in a ball for the night.

Then, May turned and made her way over to Ash, smiling gratefully at him as she snuggled against him.

Ash grunted quizzically as he lowered himself flat against the grass, allowing May to lay her head against his chest.

"Thank you, Ash." She uttered softly, her gaze not wavering.

"Thank you?" Ash repeated, not quite understanding, his eyes locked with hers.

"For being who you are. And for staying with me."

Ash continued staring back, the depth of May's words taking its usual amount of time to sink in before he understood completely. "Sure." He extended his arm behind her back, holding her close to him as he continued watching the sky.

Suddenly, a very familiar-looking streak shot across the already-bright sky, and Ash remembered that he had also made a second wish not too long ago, when he'd witnessed another shooting star from right here in Sinnoh.

"Hey, look at that! Another one just went by." Ash remarked.

"Another shooting star?" May questioned, rolling her head around to glance up at the sky.

"Yeah. You wanna make another wish?"

May looked back at him for a moment, then shook her head and laid her head back down against him. "Nah."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Why would I?" May answered, and Ash could tell from her tone that she was serious. "I've already got everything I need."

"Hey, are you sure you're all right?" A girl clad in a sleeveless gray vest with a black, short-sleeved T-shirt on underneath, as well as jean shorts and white-and-black tennis shoes, inquired worriedly, directing the question at her companion.

"Heh. I'm the one who should be asking you that." The only other person nearby answered. He was dressed in a zipped-up, black, short-sleeved vest with a white undershirt on beneath it, and gray sweatpants with three Pokeballs clipped to each pants leg, six in total. He had messy brown hair to top it all off, with the girl having relatively neatly combed, shoulder-length, darker brown hair.

"I already told you, Trey, I'm – " Before she could finish, she gritted her teeth and gripped her shoulder as a wave of pain coursed throughout her body. "…I'm…fine…"

"No, you're not." Trey replied bluntly. "That's why we came all the way out here, Lily, don't you remember?"

"…Really?" Lily murmured after a moment of silence. "Is that really why you came out here?"

"What do you mean? Of course it is, why else would we even be here?"

Lily dropped her gaze away from his, still clutching her shoulder with one hand. "Are you sure it's not for some kind of revenge?"

Trey's stare hardened. "Aaron's dead. He's the one who shot you. Why – "

"Look, I've seen the way you act whenever we try to figure this out!" Lily burst out suddenly, cutting her boyfriend off as she met his gaze. "Like when we first decided to come here, or when we found out about the black market guy in Sunyshore City!"

"What are you saying?"

"I know you, Trey! That's not the normal you! Not the you that I – " She stopped abruptly, dropping her eyes again.

"That guy in Sunyshore City told us that whoever sold him those bullets that he sold Aaron, they'd more than likely be hiding in Mount Coronet." Trey explained. "What's wrong with that?"

"Because he only told us that after you threatened him with your Houndoom!" Lily countered, sounding close to tears now. "Trey, I – I love you, but if we keep going like this…I don't want to think about what's gonna happen to us."

Trey opened his mouth to shoot back another remark, but none came. He merely watched as she lay down in her sleeping bag and turned away from him. She had never told him that before.

He looked up at the sky and saw a brilliant flash of light streak across it. _"A shooting star, huh? I guess I'm supposed to make a wish now…"_ He thought to himself, staring up at the night sky. _"Never really believed in that kind of stuff, though…"_

He glanced down at the dormant form of Lily, then back up at the sky. After pondering it for a moment, he decided to go ahead and send the heavenly object his message.

"_I wish that I'll always be able to protect her. No matter what."_

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

_Possibly not the greatest chapter, but it's proving slightly difficult to get back into the swing of the story and characters after four months. It should start getting better as time goes on._

_Please R&R!_


	8. Chapter 8: The City of History

_Thanks for all the comments, you guys! Nice to see you still interested after all this time._

_At any rate, enjoy!  
_

* * *

_Ash froze, suddenly unsure of where he was. The last thing he remembered, he had been drifting off to sleep on the ground, with May still laying on his chest._

_"Hey...what's going on? Where am I?" Ash tried saying, but no words actually came out of his mouth. _

_He looked around, and all that he could see was a never-ending sea of pink space, which he was supposedly floating in. His hat was also missing, though he was otherwise still in his usual attire. _

_Suddenly, the entire area violently shifted forward, bringing him up to a massive sphere of pink energy that had barely been noticeable a second before, hiding on the edge of his vision. _

_"O...kay...?" His first thought upon seeing the giant ball was that it was some sort of titanic Pokeball, but this thought was quickly vanquished when the orb began opening itself up from the top, the energy dissipating as it did so, until the entire sphere had disappeared, revealing its contents to Ash._

_A giant white and pink creature, which Ash figured was some sort of Pokemon, was inside, with two stout arms and legs, as well as a fin-shaped tail, and what appeared to be actual fins protruding out from its shoulders. Both shoulders also had a flawless pink pearl embedded in them._

_"Wow...look at that!" Ash failed to utter, gazing at the beast in awe. "Wait...something's wrong with it..."_

_The dragon-esque Pokemon didn't seem to notice Ash's presence, but it appeared to be struggling to resist something. A desperate look was painted on its face, and soon it had dropped to one knee, growling in pain as pink sparks of electricity began surging across its body._

_"Hey, hold on! I'm coming!" Ash thought, making an effort to move toward the Pokemon, but he quickly found that he was incapable of movement. _

_The Pokemon's growls slowly became roars of pain, and it began to disintegrate into small pink particles from the tail first. As Ash watched helplessly, the dragon slowly and painfully faded out of existence, roaring all the while._

Ash jolted himself awake, nearly jumping up off the ground and throwing May off in the process. He sat there for a moment, realizing that it had just been a dream, albeit a fairly strange one.

He looked down at May after a minute, seeing that she was still asleep, having not been disturbed by his sudden awakening. Her bandana had been removed the night before, as she usually did when she slept, and so her hair was free to fall where it wanted to, unabated.

He continued watching her for much longer than he intended, until she finally began to stir. Groggily rubbing one of her eyes, she slowly lifted her head up off of him and yawned. "...'Morning."

"Hey."

* * *

It didn't take them too long after packing up camp to reach Eterna City, forcing the pair to try and remember again exactly how long it had been since they'd left Floaroma Town.

"I just don't get it...every time I try to remember, it just seems so fuzzy or something, like it was all just a dream." May stated as they entered the gates of the moderately-sized city.

"Come on, May, it can't have just been a dream, right? I mean, how else would we've gotten here?" Ash responded. "What do you think, buddy?"

"Piika, Pikachu." Pikachu answered sadly from its usual perch on Ash's shoulder, shaking its head in dismay. It couldn't remember the events in question any better than they could.

"I guess...but still..." May said, still not entirely convinced.

"I mean, after all, it's not like some mystical Pokemon just teleported us from Floaroma Town to just outside Eterna Forest, right?" Ash mused. "Oh, yeah, that reminds me...remember that weird dream you told me about back in the Floaroma Town Pokemon Center?"

"Yeah..." May replied, recalling the strange dream with the giant blue-and-silver Pokemon from what seemed to be only a couple of nights ago.

"Well, uh, I think I had one just like it last night..."

Ash took the next few minutes to explain the contents of his odd encounter with the large pink Pokemon in his dream.

"...and then it just kinda faded away, and I woke up."

"How weird is that?" May questioned after hearing the story. "Well, in my dream, it was all blue, and the Pokemon was a little different, but other than that...I wonder if it means anything?"

"I dunno..."

They continued down the road for a few minutes, noticing an unusually low amount of people on the streets, until a pair of large statues further down the road came into view, surrounded by what must have been over half the town.

"What's _that_?" May wondered out loud.

"Come on, let's check it out!" Ash suggested eagerly, and before long, they were one of the dozens or even hundreds in the huge crowd, watching the event at the center of the mob with confusion and wonder.

In the middle of the area, situated high on a pair of stone pedestals with words etched into the masonry, were a pair of much larger stone statues, each depicting some sort of ancient Pokemon the likes of which Ash and May had never seen before. Each pedestal also had an orb stuck in a slot on the front, one colored dark blue and the other light pink.

An older man dressed in what appeared to be a miner's outfit and sporting a gray beard was battling another man with blue hair and dressed in a strange gray-and-white outfit with a G emblazoned on the chest. At least half a dozen other men dressed in similar clothes stood a ways back from the blue-haired man, whose battle with the other man was taking place near the two statues.

"I will not let you take the Orbs!" The older man roared defiantly, his back to the two statues as he faced down his blue-haired opponent. "Armaldo, use X-Scissor, now!"

"Armallldo!" His Armaldo responded, charging forward with both of its claws glowing white.

"What you say or do matters very little to me." The blue-haired man replied arrogantly. "For I am Saturn, of Team Galactic! Toxicroak, Rock Smash!"

"Crrroak!" Toxicroak chirped, leaping forward with much greater speed than Armaldo and jabbing it in the chest with a glowing fist, sending the Plate Pokemon crashing into the ground back-first as Toxicroak nimbly leaped back to its trainer's side.

"Now finish it with Dark Pulse!" Saturn ordered.

"Toxi-croooak!" Toxicroak uttered, bringing its hands together and blasting a wave of black energy out of the space between them, which slammed into Armaldo before it had a chance to get back up.

"Armaldo! No!"

"What's going on?" Ash mumbled to May in the midst of the battle.

May, who had been staring at Saturn and his men almost the entire time, took a moment to reply. "I...I dunno...but those guys..." She knew she had seen them somewhere before, but she couldn't quite remember where.

"Hm?" Ash inquired, turning to look at her questioningly. "And what's a Toxicroak...?" He muttered, pulling out his Pokedex as May looked on from the side.

_"Toxicroak, the Toxic Mouth Pokemon. Toxicroak store large amounts of poison in the poison sac on their throats, and the poison in their claws is potent enough to prove fatal with only a single blow."_

"Armaldo, return!" The older man called out in defeat.

"Well, now, are you satisfied now that you know you can't beat me?" Saturn taunted as Armaldo retreated into its Pokeball.

The man simply glared at Saturn with gritted teeth for a moment, until suddenly, a woman clad in a forest-green cloak and tan, torn-off cargo shorts leaped in front of the man from seemingly out of nowhere.

"Back off, Ryan! I can handle it from here!" The girl spoke, throwing her arm out in front of the man.

"What? Gardenia? Where did you - ?" Ryan began, but was cut off by the girl.

"I told you to get out of here!" Gardenia repeated, staring down Saturn in his place.

"Gardenia, eh? So you must be the Gym Leader of this town." Saturn deduced, his cocky demeanor not faltering in the slightest. "That should mean that if I defeat you, nobody else will try to challenge me, is that right?"

"I guess you could say that." Gardenia admitted, easing up slightly as Ryan slowly backed into the mob through the statues behind her. "But you've gotta actually beat me first! Roserade, let's go!"

She tossed out one of her Pokeballs, and a small, humanoid Grass-type emerged, with alternately colored flower bouquets for hands and a cape covering its back.

"Roserade? What's that...?" May wondered, pulling out her own Pokedex this time, prompting Ash to listen in.

_"Roserade, the Bouquet Pokemon. Roserade is the evolved form of Roselia. Roserade emit a sweet aroma from the flowers on their arms, which draws in their opponents before delivering the finishing blow."_

"Wow, I didn't know that Roselia could evolve..." May commented.

"Hmph. I just want to warn you, that Roserade isn't going to stand much of a chance against my Toxicroak." Saturn jabbed, smirking coyly at Gardenia.

"Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Gardenia shot back. "Roserade, Magical Leaf!"

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	9. Chapter 9: Adamant and Lustrous

_Hey guys, new chapter for ya. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Roserade, Magical Leaf!"

"Roooose-rade!" Roserade cried, leaping up into the air and spinning as a flurry of glowing leaves shot out of its hands at its opponent.

"Toxicroak, jump up and use Dark Pulse!" Saturn ordered.

"Toxi-crrrroak!" Toxicroak roared, bounding up into the air just as the barrage of leaves hit the spot where it had been standing. It brought its hands together again and fired a surge of black energy across the area.

"Roserade - !" Gardenia uttered just as her Pokemon landed, the blast of energy colliding with it full force, though the Bouquet Pokemon stood its ground.

"Now use Poison Jab!"

"Croak...crrroaaak!" Toxicroak boomed, taking a moment to land before charging across the area toward Roserade, the tips of its right-hand fingers beginning to glow purple.

"Quick, Roserade, use Flash!"

"Rose...rade!" Roserade loosed, taking a second to steady itself before seemingly bursting into a flash of light, blinding Toxicroak and causing it to cease its attack.

"Crrroak!" Toxicroak whined, slamming its eyes shut and turning away as the light began to fade.

"All right, Roserade, use Magical Leaf again!" Gardenia called.

"Roseraaade!" Roserade cried, not wasting time to jump or spin and instead simply raising its arms and firing a barrage of the glowing leaves out at Toxicroak, before it had a chance to recover.

"Toxi-croak - !" Toxicroak grunted, raising its arms in an attempt to block the attack as enchanted leaves sliced past it unerringly.

"Good work, Roserade! Now use Weather Ball!"

Roserade swung its arms down after halting the attack and leaped up into the air, silhouetting itself against the afternoon sun as Toxicroak looked up after it, and nearly being blinded a second time by the sun.

"Rooose..." Roserade began, summoning a moderately-sized flaming orb in its hands. "...raaaaade!" Roserade finished, swinging its arms forward and sending the ball flying through the air, straight down at Toxicroak.

"Toxicroak - !" Saturn called, just as the attack crashed into his Pokemon.

"Nice one, Roserade!" Gardenia commented as her own Pokemon landed elegantly back on the ground in front of her, both of them waiting for the smoke cloud over their opponent to clear.

But all of a sudden, a blue blur shot out of the dust, and swung its arms in an X-shape faster than Gardenia could even blink, ending up standing behind Roserade with its arms still out in a flourish.

"What - ?" Gardenia cried, staring at Toxicroak in utter shock as her Roserade fell to the ground behind it, defeated by the lightning-fast X-Scissor.

"Good job, Toxicroak!" Saturn said approvingly as his Pokemon leaped backward across the platform, back to its Trainer's side. "Was that enough for you? Or do you still want more?"

"Roserade, return!" Gardenia called, recalling her fallen Pokemon. "Don't you go thinking that I'm finished just yet..." She continued, reaching behind her to replace Roserade's Pokeball with another.

But just then, what appeared to be a literal wheel of fire dropped down from the sky, slamming into Toxicroak with incredible force and bounding off of the impact to stand with Gardenia in Roserade's place.

"What the hell?" Saturn cursed, watching in disbelief as the living wheel of flame died down, revealing the Pokemon inside.

"Quilava!" The small, cream-and-blue rodent-like Pokemon cried out defiantly.

"A Quilava?" Ash muttered. "Where'd that come from?"

"Piika?"

"Um...Quilava...?" May repeated ignorantly, pulling out her Poxedex again.  
_  
__"Quilava, the Volcano Pokemon. Quilava intimidate foes with their flame's heat, and when ready to battle, the fire burns with even more strength." _

The Quilava simply stood there, hunched over on all fours, both of its flames burning brightly as it stared down Toxicroak, daring it to make a move.

It took a moment for Saturn to respond. "...Well, don't just stand there! Use Poison Jab!"

Toxicroak heeded its Trainer's command, charging across the field at Quilava with its fingertips glowing a faint purple, but as soon as it got within striking distance, Quilava crouched down low and, after flaring up its two flames for a second, seemed to explode in a flurry of fire and smoke.

"Ahh!" Gardenia cried, backing away from the explosion and ensuing smoke cloud.

"Agh! What was that?" Saturn grunted, throwing his arms up to block the smoke. "...Huh?" He muttered a second later, squinting through the dust cloud and noticing an opportunity for the first time.

By the time the smoke had cleared, the Quilava had vanished, and Saturn had moved so he was standing near the statue pillars, one hand on one of the two pillars and his other holding Toxicroak's empty Pokeball.

"Tch..." He grumbled angrily, recalling his fainted Pokemon. "Don't think that this is over, Gym Leader. I'll be back, and when I am, those Orbs will be mine!"

He signaled to his men, who promptly nodded. They all turned and quickly rammed their way through the surrounding crowd with Saturn at the head, sprinting down the street for a moment before ducking into a nearby alleyway before anyone could react.

With Saturn and his men gone, the crowd gradually began to disperse, but Ash and May chose to approach Gardenia, who was still standing near the two statues with Ryan, who appeared to be examining the bases.

"Um...excuse me..." Ash said awkwardly as he walked up to the two of them, May at his side and Pikachu on his shoulder. "Is everything all right here? Those guys sounded like they were after something..."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, everything seems to be fine." Gardenia replied, turning to address him as Ryan continued examining the statues. "That guy and his cronies have been snooping around this place for a while. That Quilava seemed to have sorted them out...sure wish I knew where it came from, though."

"What?" May spoke up in surprise.

"You mean that wasn't your Quilava out there?" Ash asked, equally shocked.

"What? No, of course not! Don't you know who I - " She stopped for a moment and blinked, then grinned knowingly at the two of them. "Ah, 'course you don't, you must be new in town. I'm Gardenia, the Gym Leader here, and I've got a thing for Grass-type Pokemon."

"So you really are the Gym Leader?" Ash replied excitedly. "I'm Ash, from Pallet Town, and this is my buddy Pikachu. I'm training to compete in the Sinnoh League!"

"Pi-ka-chu." Pikachu greeted, briefly raising a hand in acknowledgment.

"My name's May." May introduced. "I'm here for the Eterna City Pokemon Contest!"

"The Contest, huh...? Well, that's not for a few more days...but the Sinnoh League? I can have a Gym Battle with you anytime you like, though it might be better if we wait a little while and give Roserade a chance to rest." Gardenia explained, chuckling nervously at the last bit.

"Actually, you might need to put that on hold for now. Gardenia..." Ryan began, approaching the Gym Leader nervously.

"What? What's the problem?" She answered, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

He looked back at her gravely. "It seems we were deceived. The Orbs are gone. Saturn...he must have taken them."

* * *

"...yes, Commander. We have succeeded in retrieving the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs from Eterna City." Saturn reported through his radio, in the makeshift outpost himself and his men had set up during their brief stay in the city.

"Excellent work." A deep, flat voice echoed from the other end. "Return to base with them at once. Then we can begin Phase Two."

"Understood. Saturn out."

On the other end of the transmission, a large, seemingly bored man with grayish-white hair turned away from the transmission station to face the three who had been listening behind him: two females, clad in a similar uniform to his and Saturn's, one with red hair and the other with purple. A teenage boy was between them, a frown apparent on his face.

"So then." The man said, in the same emotionless tone he had spoken with over the radio. "Are you ready to go?"

* * *

_This thing in Eterna City was tough for me to translate to words, which is why there's been weird stuff like minimal Ash and May involvement and unusual shortness. They should get at least slightly better from here on._

_Please R&R!_


	10. Chapter 10: The Truth Revealed

_Hey guys! Sorry this took like two weeks. I had a bunch of problems with getting it finished, including the finished chapter accidentally being deleted and having to rewrite it from scratch. Hopefully that never happens again, seriously..._

* * *

After a brief explanation of what exactly the Orbs were and why Saturn and his organization, Team Galactic, would want them, Gardenia and Ryan bade Ash and May farewell. Gardenia also told Ash that it would probably be at least a day or two before she'd be ready for a Gym Battle, given the present circumstances.

"So am I the only one who thought those statues looked kinda familiar?" May asked, as she walked down the road alongside Ash, the two of them now heading to the Eterna Pokemon Center.

"...Now that you mention it, yeah." Ash answered, putting a hand to his chin. "The one with two legs looks like the thing I saw in my dream last night..."

"Really?" May replied. "I think I saw the four-legged one in mine...I wonder if that means anything?"

"What did they say their names were, again?" Ash said, scratching his head as he thought back to Ryan's words. "Parukia?"

"Pi-ka?" Pikachu responded in disbelief.

May giggled before correcting. "No, I think it was...ah...Dialga and Palkia. I don't get how we could've had dreams about them, though, if we've never seen them before..."

"I dunno..." Ash remarked, just as confused as she was.

By the time the two of them had found their way to the Pokemon Center and checked themselves in for the night, the afternoon sun was beginning to set, and so the two simply decided to remain in their room and wait out the rest of the day.

They spent a little while discussing the events of their dreams again, but quickly found that they were still without answers. During the course of this, Ash had removed his hat and placed it atop his pack on the floor, and May had done the same with her bandana.

The two were about to simply let the subject drop when, suddenly, there was a knock on their door.

"Uh...come in." Ash spoke hesitantly, looking at May and then the door in confusion. It wasn't someone they expected to see, to say the least.

"Hey, guys!" Chance greeted happily, letting himself in before shutting the door behind him. "What's going on?"

"Chance?" Ash replied in disbelief.

"Hey, what are you doing all the way out here?" May greeted warmly.

"Ah...well..." Chance responded slowly, glancing back at the two of them nervously. "That's kind of complicated. Listen, nobody else is in here, right?"

"No, just us and Pikachu..." Ash answered, nodding in the direction of his Pokemon partner, who was sitting on the floor, across the room, watching the exchange intently.

Chance nodded. "Well then...I guess I should turn it over to my other half for now..."

Before Ash and May could ask what he meant, his eyes flickered for a moment and then began glowing an intense aura of light blue.

"Piiika..." Pikachu growled suddenly, its calm disposition of a moment ago now gone. It dropped down onto all fours and glowered at the boy, electricity sparking from its cheeks.

"Pikachu? What's wrong?" Ash asked worriedly.

"It is all right." Chance spoke, to both Ash and Pikachu, it seemed, though his voice was different now, deeper and more controlled, and with a touch of reverb to it.

"...Chance...?" May uttered nervously.

Chance looked right at her, the aura emanating from his eyes seeming to pierce straight through her being. "Chance is no longer present. Greetings to you, humans. I am Darkrai."

It took Darkrai a while to explain to them the complicated relationship he had with Chance.

The two of them had met quite a while ago, around a year, possibly longer, though neither of the two seemed to remember for sure. He had come to Chance in his dreams one night, as he had usually done with humans at the time, but after looking into his mind, he was impressed with the knowledge he had of Mount Coronet and the Sinnoh creation myths, and so, through his dreams, Darkrai had proposed a deal with him. Darkrai would continue to dwell in Chance's subconscious mind, helping him with his research, and in return Darkrai would, as he put it, 'get to see the world through a human's eyes.'

"But what does all this have to do with us?" May asked, after both her and Ash getting over the initial shock that they were indeed speaking to a Pokemon that their Pokedex had identified as a pseudo-legendary, and who was inhabiting a human's body.

He turned his piercing gaze back to her, as he always seemed to do whenever answering a direct question. "I know things about Mount Coronet, and about Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and the Lake Guardians. I do not remember where I learned these things, I simply...do. That is how I knew that something was wrong."

"Wrong?" Ash chimed in.

Chancerai nodded, turning his piercing gaze back to Ash. "Although my statement about wanting to see this world through human eyes was not false, it is not the reason that I asked Chance to share a body with me. He was the first person I had encountered whom, I thought, would have the greatest chance of helping me out of the people who actually possessed the knowledge to do so."

"A few months after joining with him, I finally told him the real reason why I asked this partnership of him. Ever since just a short time before our meeting, humans had been attempting to summon Dialga and Palkia, and use their powers for their own selfish plans. They still are. I needed a human's help to figure out who these people were and what exactly they planned to accomplish. Ever since then, we have been secretly working against these humans, who call themselves Team Galactic, and I believe we are now at the final juncture."

"Team Galactic?" May echoed.

"Are those the guys who stole the Orbs from the statues earlier?" Ash questioned, recalling the golden 'G' emblazoned on Saturn's uniform.

Chancerai nodded. "Yes. That is why I am here. Now that they have acquired the Orbs, they now only need the three Lake Guardians, and they will have all that they need to summon the Titans of Time and Space."

"The Lake Guardians?"

"The three Pokemon that watch over Lakes Verity, Acuity, and Valor: Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf respectively. If you bring them to the top of Mount Coronet, a place called Spear Pillar, and channel their powers through the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs...then it is said that you can call forth Dialga and Palkia themselves. Team Galactic aims to do this, and use their powers to reshape the universe in their image, with themselves as the rulers of us all."

"What?" Ash and May exclaimed in unison.

"Well, you've got a way to stop them, don't you?" Ash asked hopefully.

Chancerai was silent for a moment before continuing. "I believe so. I do not think there is a way to prevent them from gathering the Lake Guardians at this point, but if we can get to Spear Pillar before they complete the summoning, there may be a way. It is a slim chance, of course, but if I did not think it was a viable option, I would not be telling you all of this now."

He paused for a moment before explaining. "As you have seen with Chance, I can use my power over dreams to dig into a being's psyche, and draw out whatever I choose, including feelings. Now, tell me. What do you believe to be the strongest single feeling in the universe?"

Ash opened his mouth almost immediately to answer, but closed it just as fast when another thought entered his head. He turned to the side to glance at May, sitting beside him on the bed, and she was looking back at him with the exact same look in her eyes.

He turned back to Chancerai, who was still watching him intently. "...Love." May silently squeezed his hand as he delivered their answer.

Chancerai nodded approvingly. "Indeed. Dialga and Palkia have hated each other since the beginning of time, and that is why the very concept of controlling them even exists in the first place. If they were united in their stand, nothing in the world could even hope to control them. But...if we can teach them how to care for the other, how to truly feel what the other is feeling...Team Galactic would have no chance of carrying out their plan."

"What are you saying?" May asked cautiously.

"I am proposing this. If we are able to reach Spear Pillar before they summon the Titans, then I believe that I can project your connection with each other over to Dialga and Palkia. If I am successful, their scorn for one another will disappear, and they will be free to deal with Team Galactic as they please."

Ash and May's eyes widened in disbelief for the umpteenth time that afternoon. "I - I don't know..." May began.

"Chance tells me that you two share a bond that is truly something special. And I have observed this, as well." The two of them stared back at him in confusion. "Who do you think was the one showing you those visions of the Titans?"

It took a moment for it to finally click, though May was the one who spoke up first. "It was you! You were the one giving us those weird dreams!"

Chancerai nodded yet again, a slight smile present on his face now. "Yes. They were warnings. We were not entirely sure until today of how far along Team Galactic's plans were. I was planning to continue showing you those visions in order to avoid having to explain all of this to you...but...well, here we are."

"So, hold on...what about yesterday? I think we left Floaroma Town...but...me and May can't remember anything after the Floaroma Pokemon Center until right outside Eterna Forest." Ash explained, recalling the haziness that seemed to surround his memories of that time period.

"Ah...so you actually remember that?" Chancerai replied, sounded impressed. "Perhaps this will work out after all. That was a preemptive attempt by Team Galactic to simply tear Dialga and Palkia from their pocket dimensions by force, but as far as I've been able to tell, it was a miserable failure. But even so, playing with time and space never comes easy, as you've experienced."

"So then." Chancerai announced a moment later, a sense of finality in his voice. "Will you agree to help us? You are free to choose, though I am not sure we will able to find another way to stop them without you."

Ash and May were silent for a long while, allowing their minds to fully digest what they had just been told. Pikachu finally bounded over to them from across the room, looking up at Ash from his feet.

"What do you think, buddy?"

"Pi-ka." Pikachu nodded without a second thought, knowing full well the depth of Ash and May's bond with each other.

Ash's face lightened at his partner's faith, and he turned to look at May. She was staring back at him with that knowing look in her eyes, and that familiar grin on her face.

The two of them looked back to Chancerai together, and nodded in unison. "All right."

Chancerai smiled back at them. "Thank you. Then we will leave here tomorrow morning for Spear Pillar. Until then..."

His voice seemed to fade away, and so did the aura surrounding Chance's eyes. Before they knew it, he was looking and speaking normally again. "Sorry I didn't tell you guys about Darkrai sooner...I guess I just didn't think you'd believe me. Anyway, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

He waved goodbye to them, and left, again making sure to close the door behind him as he went.

* * *

_Just a note, I did have to rewrite this after finishing it once, so if anything seems a little off, it's probably my laziness or failure to recreate it from the original._

_Please R&R!_


	11. Chapter 11: Assembly Complete

_I have nothing to say this time around, except enjoy!_

* * *

"Ash?" May began tentatively, breaking the silence that had set in ever since they had both crawled into their respective beds.

"Yeah?" Ash answered promptly. It had been about a couple of hours since Chance had left, and even though the two had briefly discussed what he had told them, or rather, what Darkrai had told them, it still wasn't quite sitting well.

"Do you really think what Darkrai was talking about will work?" May asked, her eyes locked on the dark ceiling as she spoke. "I mean...about the two of us being able to show Dialga and Palkia what love is?"

Ash didn't respond right away. The soft sound of Pikachu briefly muttering "Pi...ka..." in it's sleep was heard instead for a moment.

"I dunno...I never really knew what love was, exactly...or at least not _that_ kind of love." Ash began slowly. "That's why, back when we were at your house, after beating Aaron, and you...told me _that_, I didn't really know what to say at first."

May remained silent, listening intently to Ash, knowing that it was one of those times when he was being really, truly honest with her, regardless of how difficult it was for him.

"But then I thought back to all the times we'd spent together, and how happy it made me feel to see you smiling, or how sad it made me when I saw you get hurt, and...just how awesome it made me feel whenever I was with you. I figured that, hey, if that wasn't love, then what was, you know?"

"Ash..." May said softly, shifting her gaze down from the ceiling and over to where she knew he was laying, though the room's darkness prevented her from seeing him.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is...if Darkrai says he can make Palkia feel the same way towards Dialga that I do towards you...then I say we go for it!"

May nodded, though she knew Ash couldn't see her. "...Yeah. You're right!"

The next morning, the two of them were already on their way to getting ready to leave when there was another unannounced knock on their door.

"Uh, Chance?" Ash guessed incorrectly as the door swung open, revealing someone that they expected to see even less than their Darkrai-ridden friend.

"No, it's just me...who's Chance?" Trey replied flatly as he stepped into the room, leaving the door wide open behind him.

"Piiika?" Pikachu exclaimed in shock.

May's jaw dropped. "T-Trey?"

"What are you doing all the way out here? I thought you and Lily were still back in Hoenn!" Ash remarked incredulously.

"Yeah, well, we were, but...some stuff's happened, and, well..."

"Hey, speaking of which, where _is_Lily?" May inquired, scanning the hallway behind him. "Or are you guys each going off on your own again?"

"Well...no." Trey answered. "That's actually the reason I'm here. We came here to Sinnoh a couple of weeks ago, following a lead that I'd found about those special bullets that Aaron used when he shot her. You remember, right? In the warehouse?"

Ash's face darkened and May looked away solemnly. "Yeah, we remember." Ash answered.

"Well, when you guys came to see us in the hospital right before you left, remember the condition her shoulder was in? It hasn't really gotten much better. I looked into it after she was finally cleared to leave and it led us to a gang in Sunyshore City, here in Sinnoh."

"Well? Did you find anything out?" May prompted.

Trey's gaze turned grave. "Oh, yeah, we found something out, all right. Those bullets Aaron used? He'd bought them from that gang, and they'd bought them straight from Team Galactic. You guys heard of them?"

When they both nodded, he continued. "Apparently they'd crafted some kind of super-bullet or something from a meteorite they'd stolen from Veilstone City. I think they originally wanted to use it for themselves, but for whatever reason that didn't work out and they ended up selling their stock of them for money to use on the project they're working on now..."

"You mean...the thing with Dialga and Palkia...?" Ash said in surprise.

Trey nodded. "Yeah. But, listen, all that's not actually why I'm here. Me and Lily, we found all of this out...and then we headed to Mount Coronet, where we'd heard their base was. Partly for revenge, but also to find out if there was any way to fix Lily's shoulder. But it didn't work out...on our way through the mountains, they ambushed us. We tried fighting back, but they were too strong...and...they captured her."

"What?" Ash and May exclaimed in unison.

"Yeah. I think they wanted to get us both, find out who told us all our information, maybe even ransom us or get us to join them. I don't know. But I...well, I managed to escape, just barely, and I guess I ended up here. I saw you two come in here the other night, so I figured I'd ask you for help when I got the chance."

"...Wow. Uh..." Ash stuttered, looking back to May for support. They hadn't even fully accepted the info that Chance had given them the night before, and now all of this was in their lap, as well.

Just then, however, Chance stepped into the room behind Trey, awkwardly knocking on the open door as he did so. "Um...hey, guys. Who's this?"

Trey turned to face him as he walked up beside him, Chance eyeing him strangely as he did so.

"Uh, Chance, this is Trey, he's a friend of ours from a while back." May spoke up. "Trey, this is Chance, we met him here in Sinnoh...um..." May stumbled, not knowing if she should reveal that he was also the vessel for a dream-dwelling Pokemon.

The two guys nodded in acknowledgement of each other before Chance turned back to address Ash and May. "Well...are you two ready to go? Or is he coming with us, too?"

"Uh..." May faltered, glancing back and forth between Ash and Trey.

"Well, why not?" Ash spoke up a moment later, shrugging to May before addressing Trey. "Trey, you said Team Galactic's base is near Mount Coronet anyway, didn't you? Chance is headed to Spear Pillar with us, so why don't we all just go together?"

"Spear Pillar?" Trey echoed, though something sounded slightly off in the way he said it. He eyed Chance for a moment, then something seemed to click in his head. "All right, that's fine with me."

Chance nodded back to him, and Ash grinned, Pikachu leaping up on his shoulder as he did. "Okay then - let's get going!"

* * *

_I realized after I finished that this is possibly the shortest chapter I've ever written. Ugh, I'm no good at making boring events seem interesting or eventful. _

_Please R&R!_


	12. Chapter 12: Through the Woods

_I can't believe I actually came back to this! Ha! It's been...what, a year now? Geez. I'm so sorry to any of you who've actually been reading this since the beginning. I just got really discouraged last year due to a bunch of different things and really couldn't find it in me to write much of anything, much less this. _

_I never stopped wanting to see it finished, though, so I hope that those of you out there who still remember this fic can forgive me somehow. I REALLY want to finish this properly. So, here's to good luck for this story in the future!  
_

* * *

Thankfully, their trip out of the city was relatively uneventful. Chance noted that Saturn and the rest of the Team Galactic operatives that stole the Orbs had more than likely already returned to their headquarters near the mountain range.

Instead, most of their day was spent hiking through the small forest that separated Eterna City from Mount Coronet, during which time Chance explained his situation with Darkrai to Trey, though Darkrai himself didn't make an appearance as he had with Ash and May the night before. Oddly enough, Trey didn't seem to be too fazed by the idea of a human and a Pokemon sharing a body.

"Hey, wait, isn't Darkrai a Dark-type Pokemon?" May asked at one point, a short time after Chance's explanation.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it is." Chance answered nonchalantly. "Did I forget to mention that? I guess it didn't really seem that important, given everything else going on."

"Hey, that's pretty cool, don't you think, Trey?" Ash chimed in, grinning over at their companion. "I mean, you still only train Dark-types, right?"

"What? Oh…yeah. That's cool." Trey replied airily, not looking at Ash.

Ash glanced over at May confusedly, who merely shrugged.

Pikachu, however, kept his eyes on the teenage trainer. It could tell that something wasn't quite right with him, that he wasn't his usual self. "Pii-ka…"

* * *

By nightfall, they had made it to the edge of the forest, with Mount Coronet in plain sight on the horizon. They decided to make camp there, and head on to face Team Galactic the next day.

"All right, Team Galactic's main base is near the foot of the mountain." Trey explained. The four of them were sitting around the central campfire they had set up, with Ash and May next to each other on one side, and Trey and Chance evenly spaced out around the rest of it. Pikachu was actually perched on May's head for a change. "I'll head there once we get close enough, and then you guys can keep going on up to Spear Pillar."

"What? You don't want us to come with you?" Ash questioned, looking over at his friend worriedly.

"How are you going to free Lily all by yourself? I thought that was why you asked us for our help!" May added, clearly concerned.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about it." Trey replied, deflecting the question. "I just wanted to go down here with you guys in case I ran into Team Galactic on the way."

Ash and May stared at him in confusion, and even Chance appeared slightly vexed by Trey's words.

"I'm with them…if you could free your friend all by yourself, why did you bother asking for our help?" Chance challenged.

Trey waved his hand in assurance, the light from the campfire casting a ghoulish shadow over his face as he did so. "Listen, guys, I'll be fine. Thanks for coming down here with me, but I can tackle that facility of theirs on my own."

The remaining three were silent for a moment as they considered his words, then Chance shrugged. "Okay then, if you say so. Now, Ash, May, listen carefully…Spear Pillar is near the top of the mountain. Team Galactic will probably have a whole slew of their men stationed between the foot of the mountain and the entrance to the Pillar. Make sure you and your Pokemon are ready to battle tomorrow."

Ash and May glanced at each other nervously before nodding.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Trey commented. "If I manage to get Lily out quick enough, we can probably come meet up with you guys and help you out."

Chance nodded. "That'd be great."

The next few minutes passed in relative silence as the four companions resorted to simply watching their campfire flicker and burn before them, with only the stray comment from one of them breaking the quiet.

After a short while, however, May noticed Trey's eyes had shifted from the campfire to herself. She caught his curious glance with a confused look of her own, and he quickly blinked and returned to staring into the fire.

* * *

Some time later, the campfire had withered away to nothing of its own accord, and the four had retreated into their sleeping bags, Ash and May once again opting to be nearer to each other than the others. Pikachu was curled up in a ball on the grass, next to Ash.

"Hey, Ash…?" May said softly, rolling over to her side to face him. "Did you notice anything…weird…about Trey today?"

"…Yeah." Ash muttered back after a moment. "He's been acting weird all day. I guess it's because of what happened to Lily…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I just remember what it was like when Aaron and Will took you, back when we were staying in Petalburg City." Ash answered slowly, staring intently at the night sky as he recalled that painful memory. "I…I wasn't really acting like myself either. All I could think about was getting you back home."

"Ash…"

"…I'm just saying that's probably what Trey's feeling like right now."

"…I don't know…"

"Why? What's wrong?" Ash asked, turning the question back on her.

May thought back to when she noticed Trey watching her across the campfire. "…It's nothing. You're probably right…" She was silent for a moment. "I guess this means your Gym Battle with Gardenia will have to wait, huh? You told her you wanted to challenge her today."

"Oh, yeah…" Ash grumbled, remembering his conversation with the Gym Leader from the previous day. "I wonder if we'll be back in time for your Contest?"

"I dunno…" May admitted. "From the way Chance was talking about it, we should make it to Spear Pillar sometime tomorrow, but…"

Neither of them responded to that. They both had the same feeling that whatever was going to happen at Spear Pillar, it wouldn't all be resolved by the following night.

The two were silent for a moment. Then: "…'Night, Ash."

"'Night."

* * *

Trey lay awake in his sleeping bag, unable to sleep despite being surrounded by dark silence on all sides. He kept running over the events of the last few days in his head, unable to come to terms with what he'd done. _"And…Ash and May don't even know…" _

He sighed quietly to himself. _"I almost wish I could say sorry to them now…no. I know what I've got to do. For Lily…" _He stopped for a moment, allowing himself to think of his girlfriend for a moment, of her sweet, beautiful face, and of everything she meant to him. _"…and for everyone else, too."_

He continued staring up at the overcast night sky for a few more minutes before finally rolling over and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Chance lay awake in bed as well, though his thoughts were more directed toward Darkrai than anyone else.

"_Do you really think this'll work? I mean…it's kind of a long shot…"_

"_It is more than a long shot, Chance. But it is still the best chance we have at stopping Team Galactic. We cannot simply beat them with brute strength."_

"_I know…but still…"_

"_Do not worry. Believe in Ash and May. I have seen in them the bond that you spoke to me about. I do believe there is a chance of stopping Dialga and Palkia with their help."_

"_Well…all right. If you say so."_

* * *

"Yes? What is it?" The large, emotionless man whom Saturn had reported to uttered. He had been lost in a deep thought merely a moment before, when a relatively loud knock on his door had snapped him back to reality, much to his dismay.

The automatic door slid into the wall as a red-haired female stepped through, a smirk apparent on her face. "Just coming to tell you that our little plan worked perfectly, just as you said. All three of the Lake Guardians are now under our control, Cyrus. Their chopper just got back a few minutes ago."

Cyrus grunted in approval. "Very good. Tell Charon to make the final preparations." He turned to look Mars in the eye. "Tomorrow, our new world shall become reality."

* * *

_Gah, I'm not too terribly proud of this chapter as a whole...I don't even think this chapter was supposed to exist. I needed something quick and easy to get me back into writing this, though, so please don't be too harsh on it! _


	13. Chapter 13: The Eve of Battle

_Hey, guys! I haven't forgotten about this story! I really meant it when I said I wanted to finish it this time. I hope some people are actually still reading this..besides those reviewing, of course. I don't ignore you, reviewers, honest! I read every single review!_

_Well, at any rate...enjoy!_

* * *

The next morning, the group didn't waste any time in resuming their trek. They ate a quick, simple breakfast of assorted snacks they had between the four of them, packed up their belongings, and set out toward the foot of the mountain just as the morning sun was beginning to rise.

"Are you sure you won't need our help against Team Galactic?" Ash asked once they had started moving again.

"Yeah, it seems really dangerous to just walk in there all by yourself." May added, glancing over at the older boy.

"Pii-ka." Pikachu agreed, back on its perch on Ash's shoulder.

"Don't worry about me." Trey assured them. "Trust me, I'm not just going to walk in there through the front door. Besides, sounds like whatever's going on up at Spear Pillar is more important, anyway."

Chance nodded. "Yeah. We have to get up there as soon as we can; once they get their hands on the Lake Guardians, it'll probably be too late to stop them."

Ash nodded to him after a moment of thought. "…Right."

Despite Mount Coronet being clearly visible and growing ever more so on the horizon, the journey there seemed to take longer than ever. By the time they finally reached the foot of the massive peak, the sun was hovering high above them in the afternoon sky.

"Well…" Trey began slowly. He turned his gaze to a side road that led off to a pathway bordered by the steep incline of the mountain on its right side. "This is it for me."

Ash and May nodded to him. "Good luck. I hope Lily's all right!" May spoke, a touch of optimism in her voice.

"Yeah, hurry up and get her out of there, okay? We'll be waiting for you at Spear Pillar!" Ash added fiercely.

Trey looked back at both of them, a strange touch of longing in his eyes, an unusual trait for him to show. "Thanks. And…well, I'm sorry. For whatever happens up there."

With that, he turned and ran off down the side path, leaving Ash and May standing there with slightly bewildered looks on their face as to what he meant exactly.

They continued staring off after him for a moment before Chance decided to break the silence.  
"Come on, we'd better get moving, too."

Ash and May both nodded to him in response, and together the three of them turned and sprinted off down the path opposite the one Trey had taken.

* * *

"Just how far up the mountain_ is_ Spear Pillar, exactly?" May asked some time later, trying not to sound like she was whining. The sun was now hovering high above them in the sky, and yet it felt like they hadn't made any significant progress up the incline.

"Actually, it shouldn't be much farther." Chance answered. "I'm more worried about why we haven't seen any Team Galactic members all day…"

"Huh?" Ash responded ignorantly, looking over at Chance in confusion. "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, sure, but if they weren't ready to do the ceremony yet, I'd think they'd have guys out here patrolling, just like they do on most days." Chance did a quick visual sweep of their immediate area to prove his point. "But we haven't seen anybody up here…which means they must be close to finishing their work. That's the only reason I can think of for them to call everyone back."

Ash and May glanced at each other worriedly before turning back to the path, which was now twisting out onto the edge of the mountain, flanking the group with a steep drop-off to ground level on one side and an equally steep stone wall on the other.

Suddenly, a crushing wave of pressure and force split through the air, instantly throwing all three of them violently off balance and causing their ears to ring like thunder.

"Hey – what the - ?!" Ash exclaimed, crashing down onto the outside edge of the stone path as Pikachu flew off and was thrown to the ground as well.

"Piiika - !" Pikachu growled in pain, putting its hands to its head.

"What's going on?!" May cried, trying in vain to block out the pressure by covering her ears. A second later she too was thrown back against the ground.

"It's Team Galactic – everyone hold on to something!" Chance ordered, slipping backward into the rocky wall that marked one side of the path and leaning into it to keep his balance.

"Team Galactic? But – " Ash began, attempting to get back on his feet, but was cut off by dozens of Pokemon suddenly surging out of the mountain caves high above them, every one of them crying out in pain, most of them appearing to be Zubat.

However, a pair of floating, unusually metallic Pokemon appeared near the outside of the flock a moment later, both of them locking their sights on Ash, May, and Chance.

"What are those?!" May managed, still pinned to the ground by the spatial pressure.

"It's a Bronzong and a Magnezone!" Chance answered gravely. "They must think we're responsible for the disturbance!"

"Bronzong and Magnezone?" Ash repeated, beginning to reach for his Pokedex before thinking better of it.

"Brooon-ZONG!" Bronzong roared, firing a lightly colored beam of yellow energy from the hole atop its head, aiming it straight for the group.

"Magne-ZOOONE!" Magnezone boomed, bringing its magnet-hands together and shooting a silver sphere out of them.

"Watch out! That's Extrasensory and Flash Cannon!" Chance called as all three of them, as well as Pikachu, managed to dive out of the way of the oncoming attacks. Ash, however, ended up even closer to the drop-off than he was before.

"ZZZONE!" Magnezone repeated, launching another Flash Cannon at Ash a second later.

"Ash, look out!" May warned, just as Ash began to leap out of the way again.

"Pika!" Pikachu added worriedly.

He managed to dodge the oncoming attack, but it hit at his feet instead, collapsing the ground beneath him in an instant and causing him to begin plummeting to the ground.

"ASH!" May cried out in horror, launching herself at the spot where Ash had been moments before. She threw herself flat on her stomach and, seeing him plummeting down to his doom as if in slow motion, reached out both of her hands to grab his.

"M-May - !" Ash grunted as his descent came to a stop almost as quickly as it had begun. He looked up at her with a pained expression, the intense pressure in the air still present.

"H-Hold on - !" May urged, despite herself. It was all she could manage to keep Ash from falling, given that she could barely even think straight.

Chance grumbled in frustration as he stared at May dangling over the edge of the cliff, trying to summon the strength to go and help her as the waves of pressure continued to beat into his skull.

"Pii-ka – PI!" Pikachu exclaimed angrily, also attempting to pick itself up off the ground and make its way over to May and Ash.

"Magneee-zone!" Magnezone cried out once more, firing off yet another attack toward the group.

"Bron-zong!" Bronzong echoed, blasting another wave of attack at them as well.

"Pii-ka, Piii-KA!" Pikachu cried, mustering up the strength to move and throwing itself in front of both attacks, shielding May and Chance from the blows.

"Pikachu!" May grunted, as the Mouse Pokemon was thrown back against the stone wall by the force of the attacks.

"We've got to get rid of those two, fast!" Chance said defiantly, glaring up at the two opposing Pokemon angrily.

May could feel Ash's grip slipping beneath her. She knew Chance was right. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she called out, "Now, Blaziken! Come on out! We need you!"

There was a short delay after she spoke, but then a blinding flash of light burst out of her pack, and Blaziken emerged in front of Chance, staring down the two Steel-types hovering high above it.

"Blaaaaz-iken!" Blaziken bellowed fiercely, appearing to not be affected by the spatial pressure.

Magnezone and Bronzong didn't appear intimidated in the slightest, and both fired another volley of attacks at it almost instantly.

"Blazi-KEN!" Blaziken roared, rearing back and blasting a searing Fire Spin at the oncoming attacks. The stream of fire collided with them in midair, causing an explosive stalemate for the two sides.

Meanwhile, Chance took this opportunity to pick himself up and ran over to May's side, dropping his own arms over the edge of the cliff to support May's. The two quickly nodded to each other before hoisting Ash back up to ground level.

"That was…a little too close…" Ash grumbled, his head still pounding like a drum. He then saw Pikachu collapsed against the opposite wall. "Pikachu! Are you okay?!"

"It protected us from those two." Chance explained briefly, nodding to Bronzong and Magnezone.

"Speaking of which…!" May began, turning to her Blaziken. "I've had about enough of those two! Blaziken, use Overheat, now!"

"Blaze!" Blaziken started, a glint in its eye as it prepared to use its new move for only the second time since arriving in Sinnoh. "Blaz-i-KEEEEN!"

An enormous torrent of fire came blasting out of Blaziken's mouth, much bigger and brighter than the previous one. Magnezone and Bronzong appeared unfazed yet again, and both proceeded to fire their attacks at it. Overheat completely overtook both of them and continued streaking toward the two floating Steel-type hybrids, continuing until it slammed into the pair in unison.

"Wow, nice shot!" Chance said approvingly.

Just then, the strange, crushing pressure in the air vanished, just as quickly as it had appeared. The Bronzong and Magnezone merely stared in confusion at each other after the smoke from Overheat cleared away. They glanced at Blaziken for a moment, who was continuing to stare them down defiantly, and then turned and floated away.

"Good job, Blaziken! Take a rest." May spoke, recalling her Pokemon.

"So, what was that all about?" Ash questioned, walking back over to join them with Pikachu cradled in his arms.

"Team Galactic." Chance answered, repeating his explanation from before. "They must be trying to open the portals again. We've got to hurry."

May nodded, her head still tingling slightly as it recovered from the effects of the distortion.

"Pii…ka…?" Pikachu mumbled, just as they were about to get moving again.

"Pikachu!" Ash said happily. "How're you feeling, buddy?"

"Pika!" Pikachu responded at once, springing to life in his arms and clambering up onto his shoulder.

"I guess that answers that." May chuckled, grinning at the two of them.

"Come on, we've gotta get moving." Chance urged, motioning ahead of them.

* * *

It wasn't much longer before they arrived at another split in the path. The main walkway seemed to continue straight at a steady incline for a long while before fading out of view, while the secondary one appeared to go around and possibly into a cave.

"All right, listen." Chance spoke, moving ahead of Ash and May to block their path. "Spear Pillar is just up ahead, down that path." He gestured down the main, uphill road. "I really expected us to run into some of them by now. This isn't right."

"So…what are you saying?" May inquired.

He glanced between the two of them before continuing. "I think we should split up here. May, you should come down the side path with me…it'll lead up to Spear Pillar, too, but it'll take us a little longer. Ash, I want you to keep going down the main path."

"What? Split up?" Ash began in protest. "What good's that gonna do?"

"Pii-ka!" Pikachu agreed.

"Please, just trust me. It might not matter, but I think this is the safest way to get there, in case they're planning anything." Chance answered.

Ash and May were silent for a moment as they glanced over at each other. Then, they closed the distance between each other and embraced.

"Be careful, Ash." May whispered, the two pulling back slightly so that their faces were only inches apart. "You too, Pikachu."

"Yeah. You be careful, too."

"Piika, pi…"

They broke apart a moment later, May moving over to Chance's side. "Don't worry. Like I said, it might not be anything. It's just in case."

Ash nodded, his old vigor returning. "Right. Just don't take too long to get there, you guys!"

"Speak for yourself!" May shot back playfully as she followed Chance off down the winding side-path.

Ash remained there for a moment, staring off after them silently. Then, he nodded to Pikachu, and took off at a run down the steady incline before him.

* * *

Before too long, the incline actually came to a head, and the path seemed to merely continue flat for a long while before eventually turning and winding around the mountain peak. However, as Ash continued moving down it, he soon noticed a figure come into view on the horizon, standing in the middle of the road and blocking his way.

"Hey, who's that?" Ash wondered, remembering what Chance had told him and instantly putting his guard up.

As he got closer to it, the figure came into view, appearing to be a teenage boy, dressed in a black, short-sleeved vest and gray sweatpants with a white undershirt on underneath. He had three Pokeballs clipped to each of his pants legs.

"Hey…is that…?!"

Ash slowed his pace as he got closer, until he was well within speaking distance. Then, the boy looked up from the ground, meeting Ash's surprised gaze with one of anger.

"You really did come…" He began slowly, almost sadly. "Cyrus knew you would. He knows what Darkrai's been up to. We tried to stop him, but…"

Ash and Pikachu merely stared in disbelief, neither of them believing what they were seeing.

"All right then." He sighed. "I don't want to do this, Ash, but I don't really have a choice. Besides…we never got to have our battle with each other, did we?" Trey finished, a strange glint in his eye as he reached down to grab one of his Pokeballs.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	14. Chapter 14: Showdown of Fate

_Hey again everyone, new update for ya! A bit more action-y than usual, but this is actually a battle I've been planning for a long time now. _

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

"Let's go, Houndoom!" Trey cried, releasing his most trustworthy Pokemon first, secretly hoping that he would be able to end the battle quickly.

"Hoooun!" Houndoom growled, emerging in a flash of light.

Ash remained silent, merely staring at Trey and Houndoom, dumbstruck, unable to fully process what was happening.

"What's wrong?" Trey asked coolly a moment later. "If you don't want to battle, that's fine, but I can't let you go any farther."

This seemed to snap Ash out of his stupor. "Trey? What are you doing here?! I thought you said you had to go after Lily!"

"Piika!" Pikachu added angrily.

Trey's gaze faltered for a moment. "Go after Lily…?" He muttered to himself, confused. "I don't know what you're talking about! Now are going to battle or not?!"

Ash glared back at him with gritted teeth, still not understanding what was going on. But, regardless of what Trey was up to, he knew that he had to get to Spear Pillar as soon as he could.

"…All right, fine! If that's the way it has to be!" Ash declared, reaching to his belt to grab his Lure Ball. "Go, Totodile! I choose you!"

"Toto, toto!" Totodile chanted happily as it emerged, oblivious to what was going on between Ash and Trey.

Trey hesitated a moment as Houndoom stared down its opponent, frowning down at the small Water-type. Then he gestured to his own Pokemon. "Houndoom, start this off with Flamethrower!"

"Hoooun!" Houndoom howled, shooting a spray of fire out of its mouth at Totodile.

"Totodile, dodge it and use Headbutt!"

"To-to!" Totodile chimed, leaping up and over the oncoming flames before angling into a headfirst charge toward its opponent.

"Houndoom – " Trey began, but there wasn't enough time. Totodile slammed into Houndoom's face with its own before either trainer or Pokemon could react.

"Good job, Totodile! Now, follow up with Slash!"

"Toto!" Totodile turned on the spot as the claws on its right arm began to glow white, rearing back for a swipe at Houndoom.

"Houndoom, quick!" Trey called out rapidly. "Use Faint Attack!"

"Doom!" Houndoom grunted, locking eyes with Totodile for a split second before vanishing on the spot.

"Toto?!" Totodile gasped in surprise, its Slash attack only connecting with thin air.

"Totodile, watch out!" Ash warned, knowing that Faint Attack was capable of striking from any direction.

Totodile remained in place for a few seconds, eyes quickly darting back and forth around the area, before Houndoom suddenly reappeared directly behind it. Totodile saw its shadow and turned just as Houndoom gored it with its horns, sending it flying across the pathway.

"Totodile!" Ash called out worriedly.

"Great job – now use Solarbeam!" Trey cried out quickly.

"What?! It can use Solarbeam?!" Ash repeated in shock.

"Pii-ika?!"

"Hoooun…." Houndoom grunted softly, numerous particles of light beginning to gather into an orb in the space between its horns.

"Quick, Totodile! Get up and dodge it!"

"Toto…" Totodile mumbled, slowly beginning to get back up off the ground.

"DOOOOM!" Houndoom bellowed suddenly, firing off a massive beam of concentrated light across the field, straight toward Totodile.

"Toto - ?!" Totodile cried in shock, bringing its head up just in time to see the Solarbeam streaking toward it, moving far too fast to be dodged from its position. "DIIIIIILE!"

"Totodile!" Ash called out as the attack found its mark, blasting Totodile into the side of the mountain.

"Now, Houndoom…" Trey began quickly, but stopped short after a moment, not wanting to call out the final attack with Totodile in its defenseless state. But then he angrily shook his head at himself. "…finish it with Overheat!"

"Houndooooom!" Houndoom roared, spraying a massive wave of fire out at Totodile, who was still lying in a heap at the foot of the rocky incline.

"Totodile, quick! Get up and use Water Gun!" Ash commanded desperately, but to no avail – Totodile didn't react to Ash's command, and the Overheat attack connected a second later, completely overtaking the wounded Big Jaw Pokemon.

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu uttered as the smoke cleared, revealing a fainted Totodile in amidst the scorched rocks.

Ash grunted angrily under his breath. "Totodile, return! You did great…take a long rest, buddy." He brought his eyes up to meet Trey's as he put his Lure Ball away. "What's the matter with you? Why're you doing this, anyway?! Don't you know what's going on up there?!" Ash demanded, gesturing up to the peak of the mountain.

"Oh, yeah, I know, all right." Trey replied flatly. Then his expression shifted, to one that was almost sad. "You really want to know why?"

Ash stared at him silently, puzzled by this sudden shift in his attitude. "Um…well, yeah."

Trey looked away from him. "It's a long story…but…those guys, Team Galactic. They've…got Lily. And me." He paused for a moment while Ash stared at him with a look of confusion on his face. "Like I said, it's a long story. But they…they're not like some of those other guys we've dealt with. They're going to kill us. If I wasn't able to help them, like I'm doing right now, we'd both already be dead." He sighed heavily. "They've got her up there right now, up at Spear Pillar. If I don't stop you from getting there before they finish, they'll kill her, and I'll be next."

Ash blinked. "…What? But…how…"

"I told you, it's a long story. But that's how it is." Trey finished, the fire in his eyes returning. "Now, are you going to leave or not?"

Ash shook his head in frustration. "Trey, what are you talking about?! If Team Galactic's got Lily up there, then why don't we just go up there together and go get her?!"

Now it was Trey's turn to sound frustrated. "Didn't you hear what I just said? They. Will. Kill. Her." He shook his head defiantly. "I am _not_ gonna let that happen."

"Fine!" Ash grunted through gritted teeth. "After I beat you, I'll just drag you up to Spear Pillar with me! Starly, I choose you!"

* * *

Chance had expected the path through the cave they had opted to go through would be fairly straightforward, but it hadn't taken long for him to figure out that he had been sorely mistaken.

The cave tunnel May and himself were in split off and intersected with so many other passages that it only took them ten minutes to realize that they no longer knew where they were going.

"I thought you were supposed to know where you were going…" May chided at one point, scanning her surroundings nervously. "Just how long _are_ these tunnels, anyway?"

"I…I dunno." Chance admitted. "I've never actually been here, I've just read about it and seen maps and stuff…" He frowned. "This should've led straight to Spear Pillar's entrance."

May sighed, and the duo continued walking in silence for a few minutes before she suddenly had an idea.

"Wait a minute…if we're lost in a cave…" She began slowly. "Espeon, come on out!"

"Speeee!" Espeon mewed happily as it emerged before her.

"Hey, Espeon, do you think you can find the air currents that lead outside this cave?"

"Speee!" Espeon replied confidently, closing its eyes and taking a few moments to take in its surroundings.

"Huh…good thinking." Chance said, watching as the Sun Pokemon attempted to sense the air flow around it. "I forgot that Espeon can sense air currents…"

A second later, Espeon's eyes shot open, and it bounded off in a seemingly random direction, further into the darkness of the tunnels.

"Hey, wait for us!" May called out after it, as the two of them ran off together, after her Pokemon.

* * *

"Dodge it, Starly!" Ash called, as a pulsing wave of dark energy streaked across the sky.

"Staaar!" Starly chimed, weaving out of the Night Shade's path.

"Murkrow, use Haze!"

"Muuur!" Murkrow chirped, belching out a thick cloud of black smoke that quickly covered the battlefield.

"Starly, quick, use Gust to blow the smoke away!"

Trey had already underestimated Starly once, not accounting for its speed when it was battling against his Houndoom, which had allowed it a relatively easy victory and prompted Trey to send out his own Flying-type. So far, the two had done little more than haphazardly trade blows with each other, both possessing a fairly equal level of speed and air control.

"Murkrow, Aerial Ace!"

"Muur-krooow!" Murkrow cried, quickly looping around in the air before pinpointing Starly as it blew away the Haze cloud and zooming in toward it.

"Starly, counter it with Wing Attack!" Ash commanded, but too late. Starly was too busy blowing away the smoke cloud, and by the time it had a chance to react, Murkrow had swooped in and slammed into it head-on. "Starly, Wing Attack!"

This time Starly obeyed, turning and giving chase as Murkrow soared away. After a moment of trailing it, Starly's glowing wings clipped the Darkness Pokemon.

The two continued to trade blows in this manner for a long while, each of them growing increasingly tired, until finally they collided with each other in a simultaneous Aerial Ace, knocking them both to the ground unconscious.

"Good job, Murkrow. Return." Trey murmured, recalling his fallen companion.

"You did great, Starly. Take a nice rest." Ash said, following suit and recalling his Pokemon as well. He then brought his gaze up to meet Trey's, gritting his teeth. "Well? You still want to do this? Or are you gonna move out of my way now?"

"I already told you, I'm not moving!" Trey shot back, producing his third Pokeball. "Pupitar, let's go!"

"Puu-pi-tar!" Pupitar cried, emerging to face down Ash and Pikachu.

Ash stared hard at his new opponent before glancing over to Pikachu on the ground beside him. He knew that, besides Pikachu, he only had Sceptile left, and that Trey more than likely had three more Pokemon left after Pupitar. _"If Trey drags this battle out much longer, I might not be able to beat him…"_

"Piika." Pikachu chimed in, nodding knowingly at Ash, who understood instantly. Pikachu knew that, despite the strength of Ash's Sceptile, there was little chance it could defeat four of Trey's Pokemon alone.

Ash nodded back at his partner after a moment. "Right." Turning back to the battle, he produced his last occupied Pokeball from his pack, his stare never breaking. "All right, Sceptile! I choose you!"

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	15. Chapter 15: Showdown of Fate II

_Hey again everyone! Part two of the most cliched-titled multi-parter ever! _

_Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

It actually ended up taking Espeon quite a bit longer than May and Chance had expected to find the way out, though it did seem to be pointing them in the right direction. Not too long after catching up to it, they took to merely following the small Psychic-type quietly.

Eventually, however, Chance decided to break the silence with an issue that he'd been wondering about for the last couple of days.

"Hey, May?" He began slowly, looking over at her as Espeon continued to trot along happily in front of them, stopping every few seconds to scan the area before continuing on.

"Yeah?"

"You mind if I ask you a question?"

May smiled strangely at him. "No, what's going on?"

Chance looked back at her nervously. "I was just wondering how you and Ash met."

May didn't say anything right away, surprised by the somewhat personal nature of the question. "…How we met?"

"Well…you know. You don't see too many couples travelling around together; trainers and Coordinators usually travel alone." Chance explained quickly. "I was just wondering…"

May took a moment to think about what he had said, subconsciously thinking of Trey and Lily as well. "…Hey, I guess you're right. I'd never really thought about it…" She grinned back at him again. "But it's kind of a long story…"

Now it was his turn to smile back at her. "Well, I don't think I'm leaving anytime soon."

* * *

"Pupitar, use Stone Edge!"

"Puuu!" Pupitar cried, summoning a cadre of floating stones and launching them forward at Sceptile.

"Dodge it with Agility!"

"Scep!" Sceptile chanted, leaping up into the air and skillfully juking around the onslaught of stones, leaving afterimages in its wake.

"Now use Slam!"

"Sceeep-tiiile!" Sceptile roared, flipping through the air toward Pupitar before bringing its massive tail crashing down onto its opponent.

"Now, Pupitar!" Trey called. "Counter it with Payback!"

"What?!" Ash grunted in shock.

""Puu…!" Pupitar uttered, glowering at Sceptile as it landed in front of it, the Hard Shell Pokemon's eyes beginning to glow purple. A second later, a wave of identically-colored force shot out from Pupitar's body, violently blasting Sceptile back across the field.

"Sceptile!" Ash called out worriedly. "Are you okay?!"

"Scep-tiiile!" Sceptile boomed in response, fiercely leaping up from the ground.

"All right, then! Go, use Leaf Blade!"

"Pupitar, use Payback again!"

"Scep-tile!" Sceptile cried, charging across the field as two glowing green blades sprang to life on its wrists.

"Puuu-pi-taaar!" Pupitar bellowed, catching Sceptile with the energy wave before it could make contact, and once again throwing it back across the field, though with significantly less force than before.

The two Pokemon remained in place for a moment, staring each other down as their trainers did the same, each contemplating their next move.

"Come on, Trey! That's enough!" Ash said suddenly, once again attempting to talk Trey out of finishing their battle. "There's something more important –"

"Don't." Trey shot back coldly, cutting him off before he could finish and meeting his gaze with a challenging glare. "…Let me ask you something. What would you do if you were in my shoes? If Team Galactic had captured May, and forced you to listen to them or else they'd shoot her right in front of you. What would you do then, Ash?"

"I - !" Ash began, but his voice caught in his throat, and he found himself unable to answer. He tried to imagine what it would be like, to be in Trey's situation himself. He liked to believe that there was no way for Team Galactic to force him to help them, but he also didn't know what he would do if he were forced to watch May get killed.

Suddenly, some of what Trey had been saying seemed to have an impact on him. "I…I'd probably do what you're doing right now."

Trey bowed his head slightly, as if in acceptance if Ash's word. "Then you understand why I'm doing this."

"But…but there's gotta be some way to save her. We've just got to work together, and find it, like we always do…" Ash persisted, his voice noticeably weaker than before.

Trey's expression softened ever so slightly. "Listen. I know you're just trying to help. You and May…I trust you guys. We've helped each other out a lot before. But now…" He bowed his head. "I know there's no other way out of this. If worst comes to worst and those guys actually get away with what they're doing up there, who knows, maybe I can find some way to stop them and free Lily when they're distracted." He shook his head, focusing his attention back to the battlefield. "Either way, I can't let you guys get up there. You have to trust me."

"I do trust you." Ash admitted, his gaze not faltering. "But if we don't make sure that they don't get away with what they're trying to do, none of this is gonna matter, anyway!"

Trey sighed. "All right, then." When he met Ash's gaze a moment later, it was filled with the fervor it had been dripping with since their battle had first started. "Pupitar, get ready to finish this! Use Sandstorm, now!"

"Puuuu!" Pupitar cried, springing to life and beginning to spin furiously on the spot, kicking up a vicious cloud of dust and sand all around it.

Ash grumbled to himself, partially frustrated at Trey for insisting on fighting him, and partially because now Pupitar was more or less invisible behind the veil of sand. A second later, however, he saw this as an opportunity. "All right, Sceptile, use Solarbeam!"

"Sceep…" Sceptile murmured, lowering its head as particles of light began to gather in the spores on its back.

A few moments passed in relative silence, the only noise coming from the continued presence of Pupitar's Sandstorm. Trey was eyeing Sceptile closely, as was Ash the cloud of sand. Then:

"Go, Pupitar! Use Hyper Beam!"

"Pupi-taaaar!" Pupitar bellowed, an enormous beam of orange-colored energy rocketing out of the Sandstorm a second after it spoke.

"Now, Sceptile!"

"Scep!" Sceptile grunted, its head shooting up and noticing the Hyper Beam streaking toward it. "Sceeep-tiiiiile!" Opening its mouth, it fired an equally massive beam of light out to meet the oncoming attack.

The two blasts met in midair, causing an earth-rocking explosion that covered the entire path in smoke and knocking both Pokemon off their feet.

"Sceptile! Are you okay?!" Ash called out blindly into the cloud.

"Pupitar!" Trey echoed.

The smoke cleared a few seconds later, revealing Sceptile to be bruised and on its knees, while Pupitar had been knocked over on its side and was unconscious.

"...Return, Pupitar." Trey muttered softly a moment later. "Great job out there…take a nice, long rest."

"Good job, Sceptile." Ash affirmed, trying not to let his voice get too excited. He still remembered what was at stake in this battle. He could tell that, despite his victory, Sceptile had taken a fair amount of damage in that battle…and while Pikachu was Ash's only other Pokemon left, Trey still had three more.

The path was silent for a few seconds, as Trey seemingly picked Sceptile over in an attempt to decide who to send out next. Then, he reached down and grabbed his next Pokeball…or rather, his Net Ball. "All right, Crawdaunt, let's go!"

As the large crustacean emerged onto the field, Ash had a twinge of regret when he realized who it was that he was now up against – this was the same Crawdaunt that had saved his Swellow from drowning during his first meeting with Trey.

"Pii-ka…" Pikachu murmured, drawing Ash's attention. Ash looked back at it for a moment and nodded.

"Sceptile, return!" Ash called, drawing it back into its Pokeball. He knew that it was tired from its fight with Pupitar, and would need time to rest before taking on the last members of Trey's team…whoever they were. Ash looked back and nodded to his partner.

"Pi-ka-chuu!" Pikachu growled, finally stepping out onto the field before Ash.

Trey eyed Pikachu strangely, recalling that he had once expressed an interest in battling it to see just how strong it really was. He might not have ever battled it before, but he knew that it was strong, likely stronger than any of Ash's other Pokemon, and that he would have to play it safe until it was out of the picture.

"You ready?" Ash asked, more to Pikachu than anyone else there. "All right, use Thunderbolt!"

* * *

As May had begun recounting her and Ash's history together to Chance, she had initially been fairly brief when describing the events, but soon found that, as she talked about them more and more, she began to go increasingly in-depth about the details, until finally, as she finished illustrating the events of their first encounter with Nate outside Fuchsia City, she looked over and found Chance staring back at her with a somewhat bewildered look on his face.

"Oh…sorry. I guess I got a little carried away…" May apologized in a small voice, looking away from him nervously.

Chance blinked, remaining silent for a moment before responding. "Nah, it's alright. After all, I'm the one who asked, right? I guess I didn't realize how long you two've known each other." Now it was his turn to look away. "It sounds like you've been through just about everything together…"

May silently noted how many times she had thought those exact words to herself. "Yeah. Even before we kissed for the first time, Ash has always been there for me. Like I told you, I didn't even like Pokemon before I met him…and now look at me!"

Chance nodded, still turned away from her, his voice slightly softer than normal. "Sounds like you two have something really special."

Before May could inquire about his shift in tone, he looked back over at her, a small grin now present on his face. "Who knows? Maybe Darkrai's plan will work out after all. If anyone could make it work, it'd definitely be you and Ash."

May smiled back at him and nodded. Just then, they heard Espeon cry out from somewhere ahead of them. Not realizing that it had gotten away from them, they quickly ran forward after it.

Moments later, they rounded a corner and found it, standing beaming at them from a giant hole in the cave wall, with a path leading straight out through it, and the brilliant glow of sunlight pouring out from it into the cave.

"Speeee!" Espeon repeated happily, proud to have finally found the exit.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	16. Chapter 16: Showdown of Fate III

_Hey guys, sorry this one took a little longer than usual. Last of the mini-arc here._

_Hope you all enjoy!_

* * *

"Crawdaunt, use Vicegrip again!"

"Craaaw!" Crawdaunt grunted, opening up its right claw and driving it towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, counter it with Iron Tail!"

"Piika!" Pikachu cried, flipping forward as its tail lit up white and slamming it into Crawdaunt's oncoming pincer, knocking it away.

It hadn't taken long for Ash to see that, despite the type disadvantage, Crawdaunt was more than capable of holding its own against Pikachu, due to a surprising mix of bulk and power. Still, the Water/Dark type had already taken a few hits from Thunderbolt, and Ash doubted it could last much longer, especially since Pikachu had sustained almost no damage.

"Crawdaunt, are you all right?" Trey questioned, seeming to notice Crawdaunt's state as well.

"Craw-daunt!" It replied positively, raising a claw in affirmation.

"All right, then! Go, use Guillotine!"

"Craaaw-daunt!" Crawdaunt roared, charging forward with both of its pincers in front.

Ash grumbled silently to himself, as he had been hoping he wouldn't have to deal with that attack. The image of Crawdaunt slicing apart one of the Battle Pyramid's metal walls had been fresh in his mind ever since Trey had released it. "Pikachu, use Quick Attack straight up into the air!"

"Pika!" Pikachu acknowledged, leaping up headfirst just as Crawdaunt slammed both of its claws into the ground, rocking the entire path and leaving a sizable crater behind. Pikachu, however, continued soaring skyward, leaving a trail of white behind as it did.

"Now, use Volt Tackle!" Ash cried.

"What - ?! Crawdaunt, use Harden, now!"

"Pika!" Pikachu chimed, halting its ascension and turning to face the ground, a vibrant electrical aura erupting to life around it as it began its descent headfirst.

"Craaaaw - !" Crawdaunt grunted, crossing its pincers in front of it defensively as its shell gleamed brilliantly.

A second later, Pikachu slammed into Crawdaunt with the full force of both its descent and its attack, shaking the ground around them and kicking up a smokescreen of dirt mixed with intermittent sparks of electricity.

"Crawdaunt!" Trey called out, not able to make out his Pokemon in the haze.

When the cloud did clear a few moments later, he saw his own Pokemon lying on the ground, unconscious, with Pikachu standing across from it on all fours, panting heavily.

Trey didn't say anything, but the look on his face was evidence enough that he knew that Ash was beating him. For the first time since the start of the battle, the two trainers were now even. "…Crawdaunt…return."

"Can you keep going, buddy?" Ash asked, looking down at his partner and noticing the damage it had taken from the impact.

"Piika!" Pikachu growled fiercely, prompting Ash to nod back in agreement.

Without saying as much as one word, Trey replaced Crawdaunt's Net Ball and retrieved his fifth Poke Ball, tossing it up with an almost sullen cry of, "Weavile, I choose you!"

"Wea-viiile!" Weavile chirped, emerging onto the field in a flash of light.

"A Weavile…?" Ash muttered to himself, knowing that this wasn't the time to be pulling out his Pokedex.

"Go, Weavile, use Screech!" Trey commanded almost immediately.

"Weaaa-VIIIIILE!" Weavile boomed, its voice raising to an almost painful pitch and echoing throughout the area.

"Aggggh!" Ash grumbled, covering his ears as Pikachu attempted to do the same.

"Now follow up with Metal Claw!"

"Wea-vile!" Weavile cried, snapping forward and ending its Screech attack almost as quickly as it had started it before slicing at Pikachu with both its claws, which had begun to glow white.

Neither Pikachu nor Ash had any time to react, and Pikachu was hit head-on with the attack, sending it flying back across the field to Ash's feet in a heap.

"Pikachu!"

"Pii-ka - !" Pikachu grunted, slowly climbing to its feet.

"Go, use Quick Attack!" Ash called, attempting to retaliate against Weavile before it launched another hasty attack of its own.

"Pi-KA!" Pikachu cried, launching into a full sprint toward Trey's Pokemon, leaving a trail of white light in its wake.

"Weavile, use Blizzard straight ahead!"

"Weaaaa-vile!" Weavile chimed, taking a deep breath before blasting a devastating flurry of ice and wind out of its mouth at its oncoming target.

"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash called, but, like before, there was simply no time. Pikachu ran straight into the chilling Blizzard attack, and was frozen solid in a block of ice merely a second later.

"Now, Weavile! Use Metal Claw again!" Trey ordered.

"Wea-viiile!" Weavile obliged, brandishing its glowing claws for a second time as it charged across the field at its helpless opponent. It sliced through the block of ice like butter, shattering it and causing Pikachu to collapse to the ground once it was free.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried. "Are you alright?!"

"Pii…ka…!" Pikachu choked, climbing back to its feet after a moment.

"Go, use Thunderbolt!"

"Piika-CHUUUU!" Pikachu boomed, squeezing its cheeks and launching a massive bolt of lightning across the field toward its opponent.

"Weavile, dodge it and use Night Slash!"

"Vile!" Weavile chirped, nimbly leaping into the air at the last possible moment before Thunderbolt struck. "Weeea-viiile!" Without breaking stride, it launched itself toward Pikachu and brandished its claws, this time glowing a dark purple.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail to block it!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu uttered, steeling its tail and turning it white before swinging it forward to collide with Weavile's claw. The two held their parry for only a second before Weavile smirked and swung wide with its second claw, striking Pikachu before it could react.

"Nice, Weavile! Now use Blizzard!"

"Wea! Wea-viiiiile!" Weavile grunted, leaping back to Trey's side before blasting another flurry of chilling ice and wind across the path.

"Pikachu! Get up and dodge it!" Ash cried desperately, but to no avail. Pikachu barely had time to recover from Night Slash before the Blizzard had already hit, freezing the Mouse Pokemon into a second block of ice.

"Now finish it with Metal Claw!" Trey ordered.

"Pikachu!" Ash called one last time as Weavile closed the distance between the two once again and sliced cleanly through the chunk of ice, shattering it and dropping Pikachu to the ground in a heap, defeated and unconscious. "…Pikachu…"

"Good job, Weavile." Trey muttered to his Pokemon as it leaped back to his side. His gaze remained fixed on Ash, however, as he examined his fallen partner with solemn eyes.

"…Are you all right, buddy?" Ash uttered softly, bending down to one knee and rolling Pikachu over to face him. There was no answer. He remained there for a moment, kneeling beside his best friend, before slowly and unwillingly reaching into his pack and retrieving an average-sized, nondescript Poke Ball.

Trey's eyes widened slightly at this, but he retained his silence.

A moment later, Ash grudgingly held the Ball up to Pikachu's form, and muttered the words he never thought he'd hear himself say. "…Pikachu…return."

As silently and smoothly as he had retrieved it, he replaced the Poke Ball in his bag and got back to his feet, meeting Trey's gaze once again, another of his Balls in his hand. "Sceptile, I choose you!"

"Scep-tiiile!" Sceptile roared, reemerging onto the battlefield, slightly more rested than it was before, but still not back to full capacity.

Trey eyed Sceptile strangely before resuming his former posture. "All right, Weavile! Use Night Slash!"

"Sceptile, use Agility, let's go!"

Weavile dove forward at its opponent yet again, but Ash was ready for it this time, and this transferred over to Sceptile. Just as it was about to make contact, Sceptile leaped out of the way of Weavile's claws and began jumping in patterns around its position, leaving afterimages in its wake as it slid through the air.

"Now use Quick Attack!"

"Scep!" Sceptile chimed, stopping suddenly in midair and turning to charge toward Weavile, all of the afterimages disappearing gradually as it closed the distance. Weavile couldn't react in time, and Sceptile made contact, slamming head-on into its opponent.

"Weavile, Metal Claw!"

"Dodge it!"

Weavile leaped toward Sceptile for a second time, but, like before, Sceptile was too fast, and flipped out of the way just before Weavile could make contact.

"All right, Sceptile!" Ash cried out fiercely, pointing out across the battlefield. "Use Leaf Blade!"

"Scep-tile!" Sceptile growled in response, launching itself across the battlefield after summoning its weapons.

"Dodge it, quick, Weavile!" Trey called out. "To the side!"

"Wea-vile!" Weavile screeched, managing to strafe to the side as Sceptile slashed toward it.

"Now, use Blizzard!"

"Weeeeaviiiile!" Weavile roared, rearing back for a third time and blasting Sceptile with the full force of the attack before it could react.

"Scep - !" Sceptile grumbled in pain, freezing on the spot as the attack shook him right to the core.

"Sceptile!" Ash cried out helplessly, reaching his hand out toward his Pokemon as it was frozen into a block of ice, just like Pikachu before it.

Suddenly, an extreme sense of familiarity struck Ash, and he was inadvertently reminded of that morning in Floaroma Town, when May had told him about the strange dreams she'd been having. One of them, as they later found out, was Darkrai attempting to warn them about Team Galactic, but they'd never figured out what the second one was about, and actually had more or less just forgotten about it.

But now…Ash thought back to what she had told him. She had said that she'd dreamed about him battling an unknown trainer with a Pokemon from Sinnoh. He shifted his glance over to Weavile.

"_Did Darkrai know this was gonna happen, too…?"_

"Weavile, use Metal Claw!"

Just as quickly as he'd faded, Ash was snapped back to reality, and saw Weavile cutting through Sceptile's ice block. Ash then realized what was happening, and that he was being beaten by the same repeated attack over and over.

As Sceptile got back on its feet and recovered from the double attack, a fire suddenly sparked to life in Ash's eyes. "All right, Sceptile, I know you can win this! Go, use Leaf Blade!"

"Scep-tiiiile!" Sceptile roared, summoning its twin blades again and diving at Weavile, the green aura of Overgrow present on his body.

"Weavile, block it with Metal Claw!"

"Wea-vile!" Weavile cried, meeting both of Sceptile's blades with its own, forcing the two into a lock.

"Now, Sceptile! Use Solarbeam!"

"What?!" Trey uttered in disbelief.

"Sceeeeeep – " Sceptile reared back while holding the lock with Weavile simultaneously. It knew it didn't have much time to charge up. A few short seconds passed in which the spores on its back lit up as they absorbed sunlight, and then: " – TIIIIIIIIIIIILE!"

A huge blast of light erupted from Sceptile's mouth at point blank range to Weavile, who had no chance of dodging. The attack exploded into the fragile Dark/Ice type, knocking both it and Sceptile across the field in separate directions.

"Weavile!" Trey called out, but it was too late.

"Good job, Sceptile!" Ash praised, as Trey recalled his fallen Pokemon. Now they were both down to just one, and both of them knew it.

"Scep…tile…" Sceptile panted, standing tall near Ash as Trey replaced his Poke Ball, an odd look on his face as he stared as his final capsule. He stopped and looked back to Ash, looking as if he was going to say something, but before he could, a familiar voice rang out from over far behind Trey.

"Ash! Hey, Ash!" May cried out worriedly.

"That's - !" Trey began in shock, turning around just in time to see May, Chance, and Espeon bounding toward the two of them from further down the path. "But…how…?!"

"Hey, is that…Trey?!" May uttered incredulously as they came upon the battlefield, Espeon at the head with May and Chance on opposing sides behind it. "What are you doing up here?"

"Yeah, I thought you had to…you know. Stay down there." Chance added coolly, quickly scanning the area and the distance between Trey and Ash, and seeming to come to his own conclusion.

Trey blinked at his words, but shook it off quickly and glared at the two of them with the same look he'd given Ash at the start of their battle. "I...look. It's a long story. But I can't let any of you guys get up there to Spear Pillar."

"What?!" May replied in shock, but Chance stepped forward as if he'd been expecting him to say that.

"You will not stop us." Chance spoke, in a much different voice than normal, and both Ash and May instantly knew who was really speaking at that moment.

Chance's eyes flickered blue for a moment as he spoke, but then he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as if in pain. A few second later, slowly, steadily, an oddly-shaped, primarily black Pokemon began to materialize in the air above him.

Ash's eyes widened, and May gasped. Seconds later, the Pokemon was fully formed, and Chance relaxed, though he appeared to be a bit off balance. It turned to Trey with its arms crossed, and repeated itself in a flat, commanding voice.

"I am Darkrai. And you will _not_ stop us."

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	17. Chapter 17: Top of the Mountain to You

_Hey there guys! New update here, enjoy!_

* * *

Silence hung in the air for what seemed like eternity, until finally Ash gritted his teeth and turned back to Trey. "Come on, Trey! We've wasted too much time already! Just come with us!"

Trey turned to him to shoot back a reply, but stopped himself before he could, instead merely meeting Ash's gaze with a stubborn look of his own.

"Trey, what's going on? Were you two battling?!" May demanded, noticing Sceptile's presence and Pikachu's absence.

"Yeah. I think he was up here waiting for me." Ash answered, not breaking his glare at Trey. "He said that Lily's being held at Spear Pillar, and that they'll kill her if we show up there."

"…What?! But I thought - !"

"We do not have time to linger here and argue with one another." Darkrai spoke up suddenly before addressing Trey personally. "You. Are you going to go with us or not? Stopping us is not an option."

Trey looked back at Darkrai with a troubled expression on his face. "I…I can't…you can't!"

"We can, and we will." It turned and gestured for Ash. "Come."

Ash hesitated for a split-second, eyeing Trey cautiously before recalling Sceptile and nodding.

"Wait, stop!" Trey persisted, holding out a hand to stop Ash as he walked past him and joined the others. As May recalled Espeon, he reached down to grab his sixth Poke Ball, but Darkrai saw this and shook its head silently.

As they turned and began to continue on down the trail, Ash and May looked back at Trey briefly. He met their disapproving gazes with an almost solemn one of his own before they turned back to face the road before them.

* * *

It didn't take them too long to finally arrive at their destination. A minute or two after leaving Trey behind, they passed the cave exit that May and Chance had come out of, and it was only a few minutes after that before they noticed a massive plateau topping off their path at the edge of their field of vision.

"That's gotta be it…" Chance commented, as the four gazed at it in awe. Their path seemed to bleed into the foot of the formation, rising into a steady incline that eventually led to the flat-topped peak. They could just barely make out a group of adults, dressed in what appeared to be Team Galactic uniforms, standing around on the surface of it, and there appeared to be a device in the middle of the crowd holding three strange-looking Pokemon. Bordering the mostly square-shaped area were a collection of crumbling stone pillars, all parallel with one another.

"Yes. That is where the Guardians must be summoned." Darkrai explained. "The pillars there are able to bridge the gap between their worlds and our own. When combined with the powers of the Lake Guardians…" Darkrai stopped for a moment before changing pace slightly. "I believe Team Galactic has tried to summon them from other locations, but that is likely why they have been unsuccessful thus far. We _must_ stop them here." It looked down at Ash and May. "Are you both ready?"

The two looked at each other for a moment before nodding back to Darkrai in unison.

"Good. You will need to be."

As they turned to continue their trek, May decided to speak up about Pikachu's absence. "Hey, Ash? …Where's Pikachu?"

Chance turned to him when she asked this, noticing for the first time that Ash's usual companion was missing.

"…It lost to Trey during that battle." Ash muttered quietly. "Actually, the only Pokemon I've got left right now is Sceptile, and it's not in good shape either."

"Pikachu lost…?" May replied, almost solemnly, but now it was Chance's turn to speak up.

"You mean you're pretty much out of Pokemon right now?" Chance said worriedly. "That's not good…chances are, we'll probably have to battle Team Galactic when we get up there. If you're out of Pokemon…"

"Don't worry." May shot back confidently. "I can take care of that. Just leave the battling to me!"

* * *

Despite now being within view, it still took them a fair amount of time to finish their climb to what appeared to be the peak of the mountain. By the time they finally reached the foot of Spear Pillar, the sun was already beginning to set, the peak of the afternoon having long since passed.

"Ah…so you have finally arrived." The tallest of the strangers, a man, said flatly, turning to face them as they came upon the group of Team Galactic members. He had gray, spiky hair and an emotionless expression on his face. This was completely at odds with the looks on the faces of the two women standing nearest to him; they both bore a sinister smirk upon their faces. One of the women had shorter red hair, the other with a purple ponytail. Standing further away was Saturn, and across the plateau from him was a stout, balding man with glasses and graying hair of his own. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it at all."

As he spoke, May thought his voice sounded familiar, and a second later it clicked for her. _"He's the one I saw in my dream! He must be their leader…"_

"It doesn't surprise me that you knew we were coming, Cyrus." Darkrai replied coolly. "What does surprise me is your inability to realize that your plan has failed."

"Is that so?" Cyrus shot back, maintaining his composure. He lowered his gaze and noticed Ash and May standing next to each other behind Chance and Darkrai. "So, these must be the two that I've heard so much about. Trey and Lily seem to think rather highly of you. I will enjoy proving them wrong."

"So you're Team Galactic's leader?" Ash retorted, his voice dripping with disgust. "You don't look all that special to me!"

"Yeah, just who do you think you are? Trying to recreate the world to suit your needs?!" May added with contempt.

"Watch your mouth, you stupid little brats!" The red-haired woman snapped back angrily, but Cyrus merely bowed his head.

"That's enough, Mars." He paused for a moment. "Speaking of Trey, I think it's time we allow our guest to make an appearance."

At his word, two of the Grunts standing near the back of the group came forward, dragging someone behind them as they did before throwing her forward; a bound female prisoner that Ash and May both recognized immediately.

"Lily!" May exclaimed in shock.

"So Trey really was telling the truth…" Ash said worriedly.

"Ash! May!" Lily cried out desperately. "You guys have to get out of here!"

"I believe that the fact that you are standing here right now proves that the boy failed in his assigned task." Cyrus said. "Therefore…" He gestured for the purple-haired woman to come forward. "Jupiter, if you would."

"Of course, boss." Jupiter answered, almost happily, stepping forward with the same wicked smirk on her face as before and pulling a handgun out of the black pouch on her leg.

"Oh, no - !" Ash began, but quickly fell silent when he realized that he had no Pokemon that could move quickly enough to stop her. He shot May a frantic look, and she nodded, instantly reaching back to grab Espeon's Poke Ball.

"Darkrai - !" Chance uttered suddenly, and before May could react, Darkrai himself raised his arms and shot out a sphere of black of energy, which collided with Jupiter and encompassed her in a much larger black bubble before dissipating.

"Hm?" Cyrus grunted, looking disapprovingly at his subordinate's back as she dropped her weapon and fell to the ground before him, unconscious.

"What…was that?" Ash choked out, both himself and May's mouths hanging open at the sudden attack.

"That was Dark Void, Darkrai's special attack." Chance explained confidently. "It instantly sends whoever ends up in that bubble to sleep, and good luck waking them up once that happens."

Saturn gritted his teeth when he saw Jupiter fall to the ground. "How dare you!" He raised a fist into the air, gesturing to the numerous Grunts behind him. "Come on! Let's see you stand up to all of us!"

They all went to reach for their Poke Balls, but Darkrai merely narrowed its eyes and raised its arms into the air, forming another dark sphere above its head. A second later, numerous amounts of smaller spheres began to fire out of it like bullets until the larger one dissipated. Each small one found its way to a Team Galactic member, some of them even hitting Saturn, Mars, and the stout man, who had not yet spoken. Within a few seconds, every Team Galactic member in the room had fallen, and the last sphere was shooting toward Cyrus, who did not appear concerned. "Crobat, Confuse Ray."

From out of nowhere, a Crobat burst into being before him and fired a rainbow-colored beam from its eyes at the oncoming attack, cancelling it out before it made contact.

Chance grunted in frustration, but Darkrai remained silent, merely lowering its arms back to their neutral position of crossed across his chest, his stare at Cyrus never breaking.

"Well. I don't believe I can say that that was unexpected." Cyrus said monotonously. "However, I am a man of my word. I told the boy that if he failed in his task, this girl would die. Therefore…" He reached a hand into his coat, pulled out a pistol of his own, and pointed it down at the back of Lily's head.

Darkrai moved to attempt another attack while Ash, May, and Chance stood frozen, unable to react in time. But before it could even raise its arms again, a teal-colored blur shot over their heads and exploded into Cyrus head-on, covering the center of Spear Pillar in smoke and sending him flying back across the surface of it.

"What was that?!" Ash cried out in shock, Darkrai's eyes widening as it realized what had just happened.

May, however, heard the telltale sound of wings flapping and turned behind her, her expression brightening when she saw who was responsible. "Look, you guys!"

They all turned, and were met with the sight of Trey, flying toward them on a large black-and-blue dragon-esque Pokemon, with arms shaped like additional heads and six black wings carrying it through the sky.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?!" Ash uttered in bewilderment as they flew up beside the group, Trey remaining mounted as they did.

"Nice Dragon Pulse, Hydreigon." He spoke encouragingly, a fiery and determined look in his eyes as he looked over at Ash and May. "Hey, you guys. Hope I'm not too late to help."

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	18. Chapter 18: Just in Time

_Hey guys! Got an exciting chapter for you today. Can you say climax? I think I can!_

* * *

"Trey?!" Ash exclaimed in disbelief.

"Trey!" Lily echoed, a sense of elation in her voice.

"Lily!" Trey answered, meeting her gaze and jumping down from Hydreigon's back before rushing over to her side. "…I'm sorry…it's…it's my fault that all this happened."

Lily shook her head. "No, it's not…you were just trying to do what you thought was right. This is Team Galactic's fault, and you know it."

Trey stared back at her for a moment, grateful that she didn't blame him, but also not fully willing to accept her rationalization of his actions. Remembering that this wasn't the time or place for such a discussion, he then grabbed at the metal cable wrapped around her torso. "Come on, let's…mmph, get you…out of this…" He grasped and pulled at the restraint, but to no avail; it would not budge.

"Allow me." Darkrai said simply, causing Trey to turn toward it. After a moment of hesitation, he boosted Lily up onto her feet and held her out at arm's length as Darkrai floated toward her. It then held out an arm, which became surrounded by a purple-black aura a second later. It slashed forward at the restraints, which stood no chance against the Shadow Claw attack; they broke apart on the first strike and dropped to the ground.

"…Thank you." Lily said after a moment, rubbing her arms in an attempt to relieve the irritating feeling the metallic material had left on her skin. Darkrai merely nodded in response.

"How touching." Cyrus spoke suddenly, causing everyone to turn their gaze to the opposite end of the plateau. "Unfortunately, I have now lost my patience for this. Crobat!" He gestured to his Pokemon, which had also been knocked away by Hydreigon's attack, and it rose from the ground with no visible signs of damage. "Use Cross Poison!"

"Ccccch!" Crobat chirped, flapping all four of its wings forward and producing a purple-colored shockwave in the shape of an X, aiming it directly at Lily.

"Hydreigon, use Dragon Pulse!" Trey commanded at once.

"Dreeei!" Hydreigon growled, launching another sphere of teal energy to meet the oncoming Cross Poison. The two attacks collided in midair, cancelling each other out with an explosion.

"I'm quite surprised you actually decided to return." Cyrus said, his cold, unfeeling stare landing on Trey as he began to slowly make his way closer to the central platform. "You seemed to be afraid of the prospect of that girl dying, last time we spoke."

"Yeah, you're right, on that point. I was." Trey answered, clenching his fists before continuing. "But then someone went and knocked some sense into me. I will _never_ let you hurt her again! Hydreigon, Tri Attack, now!"

"Dreeei-goooon!" Hydreigon roared, opening all three of its mouths and shooting a white orb out of each of them, which then connected and formed a massive triangular-shaped blast in midair before streaking toward Crobat.

"Dodge, Crobat." Cyrus called, almost halfheartedly. He walked past the console holding the three strange Pokemon captive, only coming to a stop when his back was right next to the controls for it. Two orbs were housed in specialized sockets next to these controls, one blue and one light pink.

Crobat did as it was told, swooping out of the way and causing Hydreigon's attack to collide harmlessly with the ground.

"I now believe that the time has come for this to end." Cryus uttered with a sense of finality. "Tell me, Trey…you said that you weren't going to let me ever hurt Lily again. How are you going to stop me…" He paused for a split second, reaching behind him to pull a lever on the control panel. "…when I am the god of the new universe?!"

"What - ?!" Trey began, stopping when he, along with the rest of the group, focused their attention on the console behind Cyrus for the first time. The three small, odd Pokemon that had been resting upon it were suddenly caught by restraints that rose from the console's surface, just as the small circular sections they were on began to light up.

"It's the Lake Guardians!" Chance explained, and for the first time since arriving there, Darkrai uncrossed its arms, and it narrowed its gaze.

"Can't we do something?!" May demanded, as the three Guardians, appearing to be unconscious, slowly became surrounded, each by a different colored aura, one red, one yellow, and one blue.

"No! Not yet." Darkrai answered at once. "Acting now would only make the situation worse…we must wait."

Ash grunted angrily. He understood the reasoning behind Darkrai's words, but it didn't make him feel any less helpless.

"Now then!" Cyrus declared, speaking with an almost crazy sense of elation and enthusiasm, entirely at odds with his previous demeanor. "Prepare to witness the dawn of a new era…where _I_ am lord over all I see! I will create a world without strife, without the constant anchor of emotion to weigh us down!" As he spoke, a beam of light shot out from each of the Lake Guardians into the space between the trio. The three beams met in midair and created a much larger sphere of blue and pink energy.

"What are you talking about?!" Ash demanded angrily.

"That's been his goal this whole time." Lily answered.

"He thinks that our emotions are the cause of all of humanity's problems…and he plans to eliminate those problems." Trey finished for her.

"What?! But that's crazy!" May cried.

"Crazy, you say?" Cyrus shot back coldly, chuckling to himself. "Something tells me you'll be changing your mind very shortly!"

Seemingly at his word, two massive spears of light shot out from the energy sphere toward the back end of the plateau, each splitting off to a different side. A second later, two enormous portals materialized into being at the end of the light's trail, a blue portal on the left and a pink one on the right. The space inside them looked frighteningly familiar to Ash and May.

"That's - !"

"Dialga and Palkia's separate dimensions." Darkrai finished. "Get ready."

Cyrus finally turned around to face the portals, raising his hands to the sky as he did. "Dialga! Palkia! Titans of time and space! Come forth, and be bidden to your new master!"

At first, there was no response. But then, two ear-splitting roars erupted forth from the portals, and the Pillar began to shake.

Slowly, surely, the two forms that Ash and May had seen not only in their respective dreams, but also carved in stone in Eterna City began to emerge, Dialga on the left and Palkia on the right. They both appeared to be in excruciating pain, as if they were being physically ripped from their homes.

Their cries did not cease as they broke through the portals; in fact, they merely seemed to get louder. May grabbed Ash's hand involuntarily, and the mutual touch reminded both of them what they were expected to do in the coming moments.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Titans fully emerged from their respective portals, though the portals themselves did not close behind them.

"Now then, shall we begin?!" Cyrus cried, inputting a quick series of commands on the controls. A second pair of lightbeams shot out of the sphere being generated by the Lake Guardians and hit Dialga and Palkia, causing the two to recoil in pain as a shimmering red aura began to appear around them. "Come, let us reshape this miserable world!"

The Titans' cries rose to an almost unbearable volume, and this time, the world around them appeared to feel it, as well. Everyone began to lose their balance, and pink and blue bubbles with seemingly nothing inside of them began to flicker in and out of sight all around the mountains.

"What's going on - ?!" Ash choked out, doing his best to keep both himself and May standing upright.

"It's Cyrus!" Chance explained, appearing to have a hold on his own balance, but he looked more worried than Ash and May had ever seen him. "He's starting to break apart the boundaries between time and space – Darkrai, we have to do it now!"

Darkrai nodded, and Trey and Lily looked back, hearing Chance's words.

"Are you ready?" Darkrai asked, though it was more of a formality than anything.

Ash and May looked at each other uncertainly, but they both nodded a moment later, knowing what was at stake.

Darkrai nodded back. "We must hurry. Stand in front of me, between myself and the two Titans."

They quickly shuffled into position, Ash standing parallel to Palkia while May took her position on Dialga's side. Darkrai held out its hands toward them and closed its eyes.

"Cccch!" Cyrus's Crobat screeched, swooping down toward Ash and May when it realized they were attempting to interfere with Cyrus's plan.

"Hydreigon, quick! Stop Crobat with Fire Blast!"

"Dreeeei!" Hydreigon obliged, rearing back to fire, but before it could launch its attack, a dark blue bubble blinked into existence on top of Crobat. A split second later, it disappeared, leaving no trace of the Pokemon behind.

Trey did a double-take and gritted his teeth, Hydreigon being just as taken aback as its trainer was. "This isn't good…" Trey grunted in frustration. "Hydreigon, return!"

Just as it was recalled, a pink sphere briefly appeared in the space where Hydreigon had been hovering only a moment before.

Trey and Lily then opted to run back to where Chance and the others were, closer to the entrance.

"I hope Ash and May are okay…" Lily spoke, watching the two of them strangely. They both had their eyes closed, as did Darkrai, and they were still holding hands. Other than that, they appeared perfectly still.

"They should be fine." Chance answered, adding a grim edge to his voice as he spoke his next few words. "It's the rest of us I'm not so sure about."

* * *

Ash and May blinked in unison and looked around. They appeared to be floating in an endless pink-and-blue abyss, populated by seemingly nobody besides themselves. It was deathly quiet, a stark contrast to what they had just been in the middle of mere moments before.

"Where are we…?" May wondered.

"I dunno…" Ash answered, though it wasn't really an answer at all.

"_You are inside of the shared consciousness I have created between Dialga and Palkia."_ Darkrai's voice echoed from all around them. _"It appears peaceful now, but I presume that is only because – "_

Before it could even finish, the previously calm and serene abyss suddenly surged to life with all the force of a raging hurricane. The distant nebulous masses of pink and blue surged past them at a blistering rate, and the deafening sounds of Dialga and Palkia roaring in pain and anger filled their heads with ten times the force it possessed back at Spear Pillar.

Ash and May both cried out in pain, attempting to cover their ears, but it was no use. The chaotic storm of rage continued on around them, prompting Darkrai to speak once again.

"_Listen to me! We don't have much time! You must feed the emotions you feel toward each other into the space around you!"_

"We have to do what?!" May attempted to reply, but her voice was drowned out by the noise before she even got out the first word.

"Darkrai?!" Ash cried out.

"_Listen – you must – don't – time - !" _Darkrai's voice continued, but it too was soon drowned out by the overwhelming force of the storm around them.

They looked at each other, both of them seeing the pain and agony that remaining in this torrent of anger was causing in the other's eyes. They managed to think back to what it was they had to do, to what Darkrai had said was the one thing that could calm this unending storm.

They drew closer to one another, and, amidst the chaos that was unfolding around them, slipped into a kiss that both of them desperately needed.

* * *

"Come on, Chance…" Trey mumbled anxiously. "How long is this supposed to take?"

"I'm supposed to know that?" Chance shot back, but he looked over at Ash and May worriedly. It did seem to be taking a long time, and he wasn't sure how much longer they would have. They had all retreated into a tightly-packed circle around Darkrai, leaving Ash and May just ahead of them. The time/space distortions had become more frequent, and the pressure in the air was getting to be almost unbearable as the dimensions were slowly torn apart.

Cyrus didn't seem to even be aware of their presence anymore. He hadn't turned back around since Dialga and Palkia had materialized, and only spoke when he was vocalizing his plans or egging the Titans on.

Suddenly, the Titans' eyes shot open in unison, and their agonized cries stopped almost at once. At the same time, Ash, May, and Darkrai's eyes opened as well, and Darkrai lowered its arms.

"Hm? What is this?" Cyrus spoke arrogantly, glaring at Dialga and Palkia in turn. "You cannot resist me! _I_ am in control now!"

As he began to input another series of commands into the controls, Ash and May glanced over at each other in shock.

"What…?" May began, but Darkrai spoke up before she could finish.

"It is finished." It answered defiantly, motioning behind them to Dialga and Palkia.

They turned, following Darkrai's gaze, and saw that the Titans had ceased their roaring and screaming, and were now glowering down at Cyrus, who continued punching away at the controls. The pressure was still evident in the air, but not nearly as harshly as before, and only a few small distortion bubbles blinked in and out of view off in the distance.

"You cannot resist!" Cyrus repeated. "Now, do as I command you!"

He slammed his finger down on the last button, and another pair of light spears burst out of the Lake Guardians' nexus, these easily two or three times the size of the previous ones. They slammed into Dialga and Palkia, causing them both to growl angrily in pain, and causing both the spatial pressure and the distortions to return in full force, some of the bubbles blinking dangerously close to Darkrai's location.

"This isn't good." Darkrai said gravely. "It appears that Cyrus is still able to control them…we must attempt to stop him!"

It raised its arm to fire an attack, but right at that moment, the Titans, now free to think and act clearly despite Cyrus's hold on them, both reared back and roared with all of their strength, causing the jewel-like portions of their bodies to light up as a separate spherical shockwave blasted outward from each of them with unbelievable force.

"What?!" Cyrus roared in anger as the shockwaves surged past him, causing his body to appear to disintegrate on the spot.

Darkrai's eyes widened, and it knew it only had a second before the shockwaves hit them as well. "STAY CLOSE TO ME!" It bellowed, holding out its arms as the group packed in around it and creating a large, protective black bubble shield around them.

However, Ash and May, being slightly farther away from Darkrai than the others, simply didn't have enough time to both react to Darkrai's words and get close to him before the shockwave hit. Trey and Lily, realizing this, stopped short of Darkrai's reach and turned, attempting to help them reach Darkrai in time. Trey reached out and grabbed May's hand, and Lily took Ash's, but just as they did, the shockwave tore past all of them, ripping their bodies from the ground and continuing onward across Spear Pillar. Darkrai's shield was, in fact, up when the shockwave shot past its position, but only Chance was saved by it.

All of this happened in the course of only a few seconds, and when Darkrai lowered its protective barrier, neither Ash, May, Trey, or Lily were anywhere to be seen.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	19. Chapter 19: From Scratch

_Hey guys! Another update here. Unfortunately it's not Halloween-themed, sorry! Maybe next year =P_

* * *

A rush of sensations surged through Ash's head, and all he could see was a stream of colors streaking past him; his head spun from the strain. All of this lasted only for a second, but to him it felt much longer.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, everything stopped, and he was left standing face-to-face with Lily, whose expression revealed that she had probably just experienced the same phenomenon as him.

She blinked, staring back at him confusedly. Ash held her gaze for a moment, then turned and looked at their surroundings, releasing her hand as he did so. "Uh…where are we…?"

"I…I dunno…" Lily answered slowly, her thoughts gradually beginning to catch up with her. "What just happened…? Weren't we at Spear Pillar just a second ago?"

"Yeah…at least, I think so…" Ash replied, a strange sense of déjà vu creeping up on him as he continued scanning the all-too-familiar forest that now surrounded them. It wasn't until he looked up at the sky, which was dark and blanketed with stars as opposed to the warmly lit afternoon sky they had been under moments before, that he realized why he recognized this feeling. "Oh, no…!"

"What? What's wrong?!" Lily exclaimed frantically.

Ash brought his gaze back down and shot her a worried look. "I recognize this forest…me and May came through here just a few days ago. It's Eterna Forest!"

"But that's just outside Eterna City…how did we - ?!" She stopped short as the memories of Team Galactic's earlier experiments with opening Dialga and Palkia's portals bubbled to the top of her mind. Each time they had failed, ripples had been sent out across time and space, causing feelings similar to the ones she had just felt. She noticed Ash's gaze hadn't broken, and she realized that he must've experienced the ripples as well. "…So, wait, does that mean…"

Ash nodded uncertainly. "I think Dialga and Palkia sent all of us through time to try and save themselves…"

"But if that's true…" Lily began slowly, glancing around their immediate area, which appeared to be completely empty, save for the two of them. "…then where's Trey? And May?"

"I dunno…" Ash admitted sadly, his face falling slightly.

"And exactly _when_ did we get sent to, anyway?"

Ash was about to state that he had no idea, but then he noticed a faint amber glow emanating from far behind the nearby trees. "Hey, look!"

Lily obliged and followed his gaze, noticing the orange-colored glow as well. "It's a light…"

"Come on, let's go check it out!" Ash remarked, hoping to find some evidence of how far they had been sent through time. Lily nodded and followed after him as he took off toward the light source.

As they drew closer to the glow, and the light became brighter, it became apparent that the source of it was a campfire, situated in a moderately-sized clearing near the trees they were currently in. Ash and Lily slowed down as they approached the edge of the wood, positioning themselves behind two trees before peering into the clearing. They scanned the surprisingly well-lit plain for a moment before they both saw a couple lying in the grass farther out from the campfire, and gasped in utter disbelief.

"What?!" Lily exclaimed under her breath, making her best effort to avoid being heard by anyone besides Ash. "Ash, is that…?!"

"No way…" Ash remarked, not fully believing what he was seeing. He blinked once, then twice, but the couple in the grass did not disappear. "That's…me…and May…"

Lily stared at him in shock for a moment before remembering what he had told her a few minutes before. "Hey, you said that you and May came through here a few days ago, right?"

"Y-yeah…" Ash answered absentmindedly, still staring at his other self lying next to May on the grass. Then it hit him, what she was trying to say, and turned to her at once. "Wait, are you saying we went _back_ in time?"

"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Lily answered. "So that means we're only a few days back…"

"I wonder why they'd send us here…if they were trying to protect themselves, shouldn't they have sent us a lot farther away?"

"I dunno…"

They let their eyes drift back to the makeshift campsite. Pikachu was sitting near the campfire, munching on the last remaining scraps of its dinner. Ash and May's respective bags were also nearby, with their headgear neatly resting on top. Ash and May themselves remained out in the field, staring up at the brilliantly lit night sky. They appeared to be talking, though they were too far away to hear.

"You know…" Lily began slowly, still making an effort to keep her voice down. "You two really do have something special."

Ash looked at her strangely. "Yeah, that's what Chance and Darkrai were telling us, too…"

"Then maybe you should listen to them." Lily remarked, giggling softly as she did. "As soon as I met you guys back in Fuchsia City, I knew there was something unique between you. It just took you both a while to figure it out."

Ash was silent as he pondered her words. He looked out at the past May, lying out on the grass next to his past self, and couldn't imagine there being anything that he wouldn't do for her. "But what about you and Trey? You two don't even travel together half the time, and you're still really close with each other. I don't know if me and May could manage to do that."

Lily's face fell slightly when he mentioned her boyfriend. "Yeah…I guess, but…"

Ash looked over at her, slightly surprised by her answer. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"

"I…I don't know. I used to think about us like that, but…" She paused for a moment before continuing. "Ever since we came to Sinnoh, he's been acting…different. He's been so focused on finding the guys responsible for that bullet, even when I warned him to stay away." She sighed. "He said that, even more than me, it was about his brother, too…but it just seemed crazy to me. And now look where we've ended up…"

Ash watched her silently for a moment, feeling as if he should say something, before remembering the motive that Trey repeatedly brought up during their battle earlier.

"_They. Will. Kill. Her. I am __**not**__ gonna let that happen."_

"Lily…" He began slowly. He still had trouble being emotional while talking with May, let alone someone he was far less comfortable with. "Trey…he really cares about you a lot. While we were battling, on the way to Spear Pillar, the only thing he could think about was making sure you were safe."

Her eyes widened slightly at Ash's words, but she didn't appear to be entirely surprised. "…I know he wants to protect me. I think something about Will's death must've changed him…he probably doesn't even know what it is himself." She allowed herself a nervous chuckle.

Suddenly, a sharp, cool breeze blew past the two of them, ruffling the leaves hanging in the branches above them and completely extinguishing Ash and May's campfire. Pikachu had just curled up in a ball after finishing its dinner.

Ash and Lily directed their gazes back toward the past selves of himself and May, who were now cuddling against one another in the field. And then, just as Ash remembered what was coming, a shooting star shot through the night sky above them, providing a split-second flash of light before disappearing.

Ash looked out at his past self again, focusing more on May this time, or at least attempting to, through the darkness. He remembered what she had told him after they witnessed the star pass by, and almost at once began to feel her absence.

"Wait a minute…" Lily began slowly, watching the sky with a similar sense of longing. "That shooting star…me and Trey saw it, too."

"What?" Ash remarked, her statement momentarily distracting him from the thought of May and where she was. Her words didn't seem to match up with what Trey had told him about their involvement with Team Galactic. "Where did you guys see it?"

She looked back at him sadly. "On the far side of Mount Coronet…it was the night before we got captured by Team Galactic."

* * *

"Are you sure it's alright for us to be here?" May inquired, shooting a worried expression across the room at her companion. "I feel kind of…out of place."

"Yeah…I mean, it should be." Trey answered. "The only thing we should have to worry about is one of us coming through the door and finding us."

Their experience of Dialga and Palkia's time travel had been much the same as Ash and Lily's, though they had ended up in the outskirts of Eterna City itself, rather than in the forest. It hadn't taken them long to come to the same conclusion as Ash and Lily, as well, regarding the time/space phenomenon, though they hadn't yet figured out that they had indeed been sent into the past.

Before too long, they had decided to head to the Pokemon Center and wait there for a few days if necessary, until something came along that would give them an inkling of what time they had been sent to. This hadn't stopped May from harboring a steadily rising feeling of awkwardness that told her she should be careful about who she interacts with in this state.

Now they were sitting on opposite beds in their room within the Center, both trying to figure out what exactly they were going to do next.

"I guess so…" She uttered compliantly after a moment. "I hope Ash and Lily are all right…"

Trey turned to look at her. "Yeah…me, too." He paused for a moment, his tone softening when he spoke again. "Listen…I'm sorry for what I did back there. If I had listened to Ash, we probably wouldn't be in this mess right now…"

May watched him intently as he spoke, something about his actions still not clicking in her head. "It's all right…I mean, you ended up coming back to help us anyway, right? …I do have one question, though."

"What is it?"

"Why did you bother finding us in Eterna City and following us all the way to the foot of the mountain, if you were just going to stop us before we got to Spear Pillar anyway?"

He stared at her for a long while, trying to make sense of what she had said, recalling that both she and Ash had acted as if they'd seen him recently when he found them on the mountain. "…What're you talking about?"

May looked back at him confusedly. That wasn't exactly the answer she had been expecting. "You…found us here in Eterna City, remember? You told us that Team Galactic had captured Lily, and that you'd managed to get away…you asked us to help you go and rescue her." She frowned. "But then you left, once we'd gotten to Mount Coronet…and the next thing we knew, you were up on the mountain path."

Trey's eyes widened. He had never gone and asked for their help, and he certainly hadn't managed to escape the clutches of Team Galactic. "Sorry…I don't know what you're talking about. I've been with Team Galactic ever since they captured us."

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	20. Chapter 20: Repeating History

_Hey guys! Sorry it's been a little longer than usual this time. Hope you all enjoy!_

* * *

Ash found himself harboring an unusual feeling of loneliness that night as he struggled to let himself fall asleep. Along with Lily, he had laid out his sleeping bag in a relatively small clearing a ways off from the open field where his and May's past selves were staying. Although Lily was indeed with him, he couldn't stop himself from feeling like something was missing, partially due to Pikachu's absence, but much more so, he was surprised to realize, due to May's.

Ash had also been surprised to learn that Lily's account of her and Trey's capture by Team Galactic differed a bit from what he'd been told by Trey. According to her, they had both been captured during their initial encounter, instead of only her, as Trey had said, and that he had never been allowed to leave Mount Coronet unless accompanied by other Team Galactic members. She went on to say that the only time he had actually left, then, was when he had been forced to accompany Mars and Jupiter during Mesprit's capture.

Ash had tried to argue with her, insisting that Trey had found them in Eterna City and had accompanied them until they reached the foot of the mountain, but she simply stated that it was impossible.

Ash sighed, his unrelenting stare into the night sky giving him no relief. Hundreds of small, white stars dotted the dark landscape as usual, but not one of them shot across the sky, a sight which had always given him hope during the past few months. He found himself subconsciously thinking back to their brief experience sharing minds with Dialga and Palkia, and wondered if that was the last time he would feel the tender, calming touch of May's skin against his.

He shook his head, frustrated with himself for thinking that way. He then rolled over onto his side and, over the course of the next few minutes, forced himself to fall asleep.

* * *

At about the same time that night, May was being forced to grapple with a similar problem as Ash. Despite the fact that she wasn't short a Pokemon partner, she was far less accustomed to being alone than Ash was. Trey was still in the room with her, lying asleep on his own bed across the room from hers, but, as with Ash, it did little to ease the feeling that a part of her was missing.

She had also had a similar disagreement with Trey as Ash had had with Lily, insisting that they had met up with him in Eterna City, while he had said that that was impossible, as he had never left Mount Coronet except in the company of Mars and Jupiter. This left her extremely confused, and led her to wonder if perhaps the effects of the space/time distortions had had a greater effect on her and Ash than they'd realized.

Regardless, she found herself unable to sleep that night, instead being forced to stare at the ceiling above her and hope with all of her might that Ash had simply ended up somewhere else, and that he was in fact still out there somewhere.

The minutes continued to tick by, and she still felt no sense of either growing tired or her mind being eased. But then, she remembered something that Ash had given her once, and she turned and reached for her pack lying on the floor next to her bed. After rummaging around in the near-complete darkness for a few moments, she managed to find what she was looking for: the emerald-green flower that Ash had given her as a gift long ago.

She had always been surprised that, although she tried her best to give it water whenever she could, it hadn't ever seemed to need any nourishment at all. It had never even gotten close to wilting, and she was certain that there had been a time or two when she had forgotten to take it out for a week or more. Ash had told her upon presenting her with it that it was from the Forest Shrine in Johto, which was supposedly blessed by Celebi, and she had often wondered if that was the reasoning behind the flower's seemingly magical state of perpetual health.

She rolled back over onto her back, holding the flower fondly over her chest. _"Ash is going to be alright."_ She thought to herself, and the flower seemed to reinforce each word, amplifying her growing sense of assurance. _"He's going to be okay. I'll find him…or he'll find me."_

* * *

The next morning, Ash and Lily had decided that there wasn't much that they could do other than follow Ash and May to Eterna City, and head back to Spear Pillar from there. They also agreed that it was probably safer if they avoided being seen as much as possible, as neither of them were willing to risk the possible side effects of tampering with time.

Thankfully, they had apparently been sent back to only the day before they had arrived in town, as it wasn't too long before the city came into view on the horizon. The pair continued trailing Ash and May all the way up to the outskirts of town and through the front gates.

As they continued further into town, Ash suddenly remembered what his past self was about to witness, and realized that if he was going to heal his Pokemon before setting off for Mount Coronet again, this was probably his last chance to do so.

"Hey, Lily?" He began slowly, noticing the large crowd gathered around the statues of Dialga and Palkia further down the road. He pulled her aside as his and May's past selves continued on down the street until they were one with the mob of people.

"Yeah? What's going on?" She asked quickly, her eyes darting around the area, assuming that something was wrong.

"Oh, nothing, it's just…I wanted to go and stop by the Pokemon Center before we left. Trey…knocked out all of my Pokemon during our battle." He admitted sadly.

Lily blinked, surprised by his mild response. "Oh…so that's why your Pikachu isn't out here with you."

Ash nodded slowly. "Me and May were in that crowd for a while. Team Galactic was making a big show of trying to steal the two Orbs. If we go to the Pokemon Center now, we should be able to make it out before me and May get there."

Lily blinked again, and looked over her shoulder at the huge mob of people filling the plaza. "I…I dunno, Ash…I feel like that'd be a bad idea."

"What? Why?"

"I just told you, I don't know…but…" She turned from him toward the large crowd of people Ash and May had just run into. "I think we need to go watch whatever's going on over there."

"What do you mean? I already know what's gonna happen there."

"…I know, but…" She turned back to him, and he could tell from her expression that she was serious. "I've just got this feeling that that's where we need to be right now."

Ash was silent for a moment, but for some reason, he couldn't find it in him to argue with her. "…Okay." He answered, nodding to her. "Let's go, then!"

She smiled and nodded back at him, and the two of them took off toward the plaza. They knew that they would have to remain out of sight as much as possible, and so rather than get lost in the crowd as Ash and May had, they instead found a two-story café near the square, which was, to neither of their surprise, almost entirely empty, and made their up to the balcony, which was facing the center of the group of people, and also happened to be close enough for them to make out Saturn battling against Gardenia next to the two statues.

"Gardenia's battling already?" Ash said under his breath. "That must mean that that other guy's already lost…"

Lily remained silent, intently watching Gardenia and her Roserade battle Saturn and his Toxicroak, with the feeling that had caused her to come up here growing steadily in the pit of her stomach.

A few moments later, they witnessed Toxicroak's clutch X-Scissor defeat Roserade, causing Gardenia to call it back.

"Wait a minute…" Ash began, thinking out loud. "This was right before – !"

He stopped when he saw Lily producing a Poke Ball, and before he could stop her, she threw it into the air. "Quilava, go, use Flame Wheel!"

Quilava emerged in midair and spun itself in a wheel of fire before streaking down toward the battlefield, slamming into Toxicroak before landing in front of Gardenia, poised for another attack.

"What…?" Ash muttered, dumbstruck, as his mind began putting the pieces together. Lily had a Quilava. He'd seen it before. The Quilava that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to save Gardenia from Saturn's attack…had been _hers_. "Lily…we saw that Quilava when we were here. This happened before."

She turned to him, initially surprised, but quickly realizing that time was indeed repeating itself…including her and Ash's actions. "I told you…I had a feeling that we needed to be here. And I don't really know why I threw Quilava out just now…I just…felt like I needed to."

They turned back to the battle, and saw that Quilava, too, must have been feeling some semblance of Lily's feelings, as it seemed to know exactly what to do without her commands. It waited patiently for Toxicroak to charge, and when it did, it unleashed a powerful Lava Plume at point-blank range before retreating, using the smoke cloud for cover as it made its way back to Lily and Ash.

"Good job, Quilava!" Lily called, making sure to not let anyone else hear her as Quilava looked up at her from the ground outside the café. "Return!"

A few moments later, Lily then turned to Ash. "So, do you think we can still make it to the Pokemon Center?"

Ash thought for a moment, watching his past self converse with Gardenia, Team Galactic having just cleared out of the area. "Yeah, I think so."

Lily nodded. "Well, come on then!"

* * *

Trey and May had decided to remain in the Pokemon Center for most of the day and attempt to figure out what time they had been sent to before risking leaving the building and encountering someone they weren't supposed to. Mid-afternoon had recently arrived, however, and they still seemed to be no closer to figuring it out than they were when they first arrived.

However, just as May was about to suggest that they go and see if they could find anything out in town, the front doors to the Center slid open, and Ash and Lily stepped inside, causing May's mouth to drop open. "Trey…" She muttered feebly.

"Hm?" He answered nonchalantly, turning to follow her gaze a moment later. When he saw who she was staring at, his eyes widened in disbelief. "No way…"

The two remained there for a moment, frozen on the spot, before Ash and Lily finally caught their gaze. Both pairs stood locked in place for a moment longer, and then they charged forward to meet each other.

"May…?!" Ash stuttered under his breath as she ran toward him, grinning at him from ear to ear. "May!"

"Ash!" She called out, throwing her arms around him as he caught her in his own arms, the two sharing a fierce embrace. "Ash…you're really here…"

"I can't believe it…" Ash managed, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her. "I thought it would take us forever to find you…"

Trey and Lily shared a similar, if slightly less intense, reunion. Lily remained locked in place, a number of conflicting emotions rushing through her head as Trey strode up and wrapped her in a tight embrace of his own.

"Trey…" She began sadly.

"Lily…I…I can't believe you're here…" He choked out.

She remained silent for a moment, though her arms were beginning to creep up around his back when he suddenly drew back from her, meeting her gaze with a fierce look in his eyes. "Listen to me, Lily…I was thinking about a lot of stuff these last two days…"

Lily's gaze fell; she thought she could already see where this going. "Trey, listen, it…it's okay. I know – "

"I love you."

She froze on the spot, again. He leaned in and kissed her softly, which she returned after a moment, deciding that the time to discuss things was not now.

Ash and May pulled back and smiled at the two of them, and, for that brief minute of time, it seemed that, for once, all was well with the world.

* * *

_Please R&R!_


	21. Chapter 21: Full Circle

_Hey guys! Got a bit of a short update this time, unfortunately. It's one of those times where I tried to cram in more, but it seemed to fit better as part of the next chapter instead. Sorry :\_

_On the bright side, though, is that a special day is coming up for us Advanceshippers, and I've got a much better update planned for that day. So be looking forward to that, if this chapter disappoints you!_

* * *

It wasn't long after the two couples' reunion before they caught sight of the past selves of Ash and May entering the Pokemon Center, forcing the four to do their best to remain out of sight of the rest of the room until they had departed.

After Ash and May explained that they had just gotten their room for the night and that it was safe to show themselves, Trey and Lily decided that they would go and get a room as well for the four of them, Ash and May choosing to stay away from the front counter in order to avoid suspicions by Nurse Joy.

"So…what do we do now?" Ash asked rather plainly. The four of them were now gathered around the center of their room, Ash and May sitting on one bed and Trey and Lily across from them on the other. Though there was no window, they were fairly certain that the day had now progressed into the evening.

"We have to get back to Spear Pillar." Trey answered knowingly. "Cyrus was probably sent back in time like we were, and if he was, that's the first thing that's gonna be on his mind."

"But what are we supposed to do when we get there?" May questioned. "We already tried Darkrai's idea."

"Honestly, I don't really think Darkrai's plan failed." Trey explained. "I think Dialga and Palkia just did what they did because they felt threatened by Cyrus. If we can make it back up there before him, we might be able to calm them down and get them to reverse the time/space warps."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about those…" Ash commented, thinking back to the strange pink and blue bubbles that had sprung into existence during Dialga and Palkia's struggle against Cyrus.

"So, sounds like we've got a plan." Lily announced happily. "We make it to Spear Pillar after Ash and May, but before Cyrus."

They all nodded in turn, closing the matter and finalizing their decision.

Later that night, each of the four of them in turn found that they were unable to actually get any amount of sleep. Ash and Trey had taken the top bunks of their respective beds, allowing May and Lily the bottoms, but it ended up making little difference either way.

"Hey, Ash." May whispered at one point, having finally gotten fed up with staring at the bottom of Ash's mattress in an attempt to fall asleep and climbed to the top instead.

"Huh?" Ash murmured, looking down across the bed to see her climbing into his bed and crawling up next to him. "Oh, hey. You couldn't sleep either?"

"Nope." May replied, giggling as she snuggled up beside him, placing her head right next to his and locking their hands together under the blanket. "I missed you. I know it wasn't for that long, but…"

"It was our first night ever that we weren't together for." Ash finished for her, chuckling softly. "I know. I missed you, too."

May stared back at him for a moment, her look of surprise slowly being replaced by a warm smile. She leaned in and gave him a brief kiss before remarking, "So after we finish with all of this, can we agree not to go off on any dangerous adventures for a while?"

Ash chuckled again. "Sure, if you think you can keep us out of any trouble for that long."

There was a brief pause before both of them laughed under their breath, a sound that was only broken when Ash pulled May into a second kiss.

The following morning, after the four had all completed their morning rituals and were preparing to leave, Trey and Lily suddenly got to their feet in unison from the side of Lily's bed.

"Huh? What's up, you guys?" Ash prompted, looking up from his own position on the side of May's bed, whose owner was currently stationed in the bathroom.

"Well…" Trey began slowly, and Ash noticed he was holding Lily's hand. "We were talking last night…about a couple of things."

"As hard as that was." Lily added, winking at Ash with a coy grin on her face, causing him to blush slightly.

"…I decided that I want to go with you and May on your way to Spear Pillar."

Ash blinked once, then twice, not quite understanding what his point was. "Um, weren't you gonna do that anyway?"

Trey shook his head. "No, not like that…I meant go with _just_ you two."

Ash stared back at him for another moment, still not catching his meaning, but then he remembered who else was departing from the Pokemon Center that morning. "Wait…you mean…"

Trey nodded. "I know you two must've made it there alright anyway, but after what happened…I just feel like I need to go and help you two out, just in case."

Ash's head spun slightly as he suddenly remembered that Trey had appeared to meet them in the Pokemon Center from seemingly out of nowhere the last time he and May were here. His mouth dropped open, but no words came out.

"Hey…what's going on?" May inquired, stepping out of the restroom with her unfurled bandana in her hands, noticing both Trey and Lily's position as well as Ash's expression.

"M-May…" Ash choked out, turning to face her. Trey and Lily glanced at each other worriedly, not sure what the problem was. "Trey said…he wants to go with _us_ up to Spear Pillar."

"Us?" May echoed back, having a similar initial reaction as Ash. "What do you…"

She stopped short when she caught the look in Ash's eyes, and her own mind pieced together what was happening as well. She looked over at Trey a few moments later, speechless.

"Hey, guys, what's wrong?" Lily asked, Trey eyeing the two of them strangely.

"Nothing…but…" Ash attempted to answer. "Trey…the last time me and May were here…"

"…we ran into _you_ on our way out. Remember?" May finished for him.

Trey's own mouth dropped open when he recalled May's story about meeting him in Eterna City, and Lily's eyes lit up as well. "So…wait a minute…"

"It's just like when you used your Quilava in the square yesterday…" Ash remarked, directing his words at Lily.

May's eyes widened at Ash's words, and Trey continued, "…so…are we…just going in one big circle?"

The four of them dropped silent at his words, all of them processing the effects they were having by having been forced back in time.

Finally, Ash spoke up, deciding to break the silence. "Well, Trey, I think you should go ahead and go."

"I'm kinda scared to think about what would happen to us if you didn't…" May admitted, crossing the room and going to Ash's side as he stood up from the bed.

Trey thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right then."

He turned to Lily and pulled her into a warm embrace, whispering, "Be careful." in her ear as he did, prompting her to echo the same sentiment back. Ash and May glanced at each other and grinned as the two pulled apart.

Trey waved goodbye to Ash and May and stepped outside into the hall, making sure to shut the door behind him, in order to maintain their secrecy until they, too, departed from the room.

Lily remained staring at the closed door for a moment longer before turning to Ash and May. "So, how long do we need to wait, exactly?"

"Well, if Trey's going over to meet us right now…" Ash began, trying to recall how long it was before they all left from the Pokemon Center.

"Probably about ten minutes or so." May finished for him, reaching up to tie her bandana around her head. She was about to reach into her bag for her green flower, when she suddenly noticed the absence of a certain member of their group. "Hey, Ash, didn't you want to get Pikachu treated here before we left? And all of your other Pokemon, too…?"

Ash shot her a sad glance. "Oh…yeah, I did. But we didn't make it on time last night, and I didn't want to risk messing something up by someone seeing me after the other me had already got here."

"Oh…I'm sorry." May replied solemnly, carefully placing the flower in its traditional spot on her ear, and Lily's face fell, as well.

Ash held his expression for a moment before brightening up. "It's okay. This is more important…I know Pikachu would understand. Now, come on, let's get ready to go!"

* * *

_Please R&R! And keep your eyes peeled for my November 21 update ;)_


	22. Chapter 22: Destiny's Battle

_Hey guys! I promised you an update today, and here it is! If you've forgotten what today is, allow me to remind you by saying, Happy Advanceshipping Day!_

* * *

Their second trip through the forest separating Eterna City from Mount Coronet passed with a similar amount of inactivity as the first one, the only real issue being that they had to constantly remain aware of Trey's position relative to their own, so as to not alert the past Ash and May to their presence.

Other than that, the one-day trek through the woods remained uneventful. May and Lily made a couple of attempts at small talk, each of them being somewhat grateful to have another female to talk to for once, but given the circumstances of their position, as well as what they knew was coming the following day, these conversations never lasted long.

Ash and May also made a few attempts at conversing with each other, but they were keenly aware that doing so left Lily out of the loop more often than not, and they had already reciprocated with each other the night before, anyway, so instead they ended up merely hovering slightly closer to each other than usual.

The night came and went, and the following morning they continued trailing their doppelgangers until they reached the foot of the mountain, at which point they appeared to stop and begin conversing amongst themselves.

"…Is this it?" Lily asked under her breath, watching Trey closely from the bush she was crouching in along with Ash and May, a few dozen yards away from his position.

"Yep." Ash replied, nodding to her. "He told us that Team Galactic had set up their base somewhere around here, and that you were there instead of on Spear Pillar."

"But I don't think he liked having to lie to us like that…" May added sadly.

They continued observing until Trey broke off from the group, starting down the road toward them while Ash, May, and Chance set off in the other direction, along the road that led up the mountainside.

A few minutes passed in relative silence as they waited simultaneously for Trey to get closer, as well as for the others to get far enough away. Finally, as if silently agreeing amongst themselves, they rose up from the bush in unison, appearing a short distance away from Trey's position.

"Hey, welcome back." May acknowledged as he approached the trio.

"Thanks." Trey replied, Lily subconsciously drifting over to his side. "…Are you guys ready to go?"

Their second trip up the mountain was certainly less interesting than the first. They continued to remain a safe distance away from the past Ash, May, and Chance, which did prove slightly more difficult on the mountain path than it had been in the forest.

When Dialga and Palkia's forced distortions occurred, they did find that, for some reason, they were almost entirely immune to their effects. Trey guessed that it had something to do with the fact that they'd traveled through time and space already, and technically shouldn't even be there at that moment.

They eventually managed to make it to the fork in the path where May and Chance had left Ash on his own to head through the caves. After briefly explaining this to Trey and Lily, the four decided to go through the caves as well, with May in the lead, figuring that it was the safer of the two paths to take.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, after making their way out of the cave system and up the final stretch of the mountain, Spear Pillar once again came into view at the end of their trail.

"Well…there it is." May announced, the four of them staring up at the elaborate plateau before them.

"We made it." Ash added, a hint of triumph in his voice.

"Not yet, we didn't." Trey remarked urgently, just as a handful of pink and blue bubbles blinked into existence around them, lingering for a split second before vanishing and being replaced by twice as many. "We've still got to find a way to stop Dialga and Palkia."

They all nodded in acknowledgement and turned to continue up the final leg of the mountain path. The sun was already setting in the sky above them, bathing the peak in a shower of amber light.

Upon reaching the foot of Spear Pillar, the four stopped and crouched low behind the closest stone pillar they could find, and peered around the side of it to watch what they had already witnessed once before.

Darkrai was holding its hands out, palm-first, toward Ash and May respectively, whose hands were locked. Chance was standing near him, on the ground, with Trey and Lily standing together not far from him. The pink and blue distortion bubbles were steadily blinking into existence all around them at an alarming rate.

"This isn't good…Hydreigon, return!"

The four remained crouched behind their cover as the events transpired before them, waiting for the moment they knew would come all too soon. The minutes ticked by slowly, methodically, until finally –

"STAY CLOSE TO ME!"

The two shockwaves erupting forth from Dialga and Palkia tore past their pillar and beyond, but this time it had no effect on the four of them as it had before. They waited a moment longer after the force began to dissipate before climbing to their feet in unison and stepping out from behind the ruined pillar, each of them feeling a faint stirring in their chest as their two selves became one again.

"What…where did they…?!" Chance grunted angrily, glancing around the pillar frantically for his companions. All of the other Team Galactic operatives had disappeared as well. Darkrai, however, with as calm a demeanor as ever, merely pivoted on the spot to face them.

"Greetings again. You all did well making it back here in time."

Chance turned at once to face them as well, appearing surprised to see the four of them casually standing behind him after what he had just witnessed. "…You guys are all…?!"

Ash nodded in response. "Hey, Chance! Dialga and Palkia sent us back in time, but we all met up with each other and found our way back up here!"

Chance blinked at Ash's words. "You – what?"

May giggled. "It's a long story. We'll tell you more about it later."

Trey nodded, motioning over Chance's shoulder at Dialga and Palkia, who were still floating in midair over the center of the Pillar, though the distortions appeared to have subsided for the moment. "Yeah, but right now, we've got to find a way to put those two back where they belong."

"Any ideas?" Lily remarked, smiling coyly at Chance.

"Well…" Chance turned and looked at the two Titans, who were both groaning under their breath. He then glanced down at Team Galactic's machine, which still held the two orbs in the front console, as well as Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie on the other end. "It's probably gonna be the Orbs. If we can re-energize Dialga and Palkia with them somehow, they should be able to leave on their own, and go back to their own dimensions."

"How do we know they won't just start attacking us again?" Trey questioned.

Darkrai and Chance both turned to Ash and May. "Ask them." Chance answered simply.

"What?" Ash replied as May blinked confusedly, neither of them understanding.

"You connected your minds with theirs, did you not?" Darkrai explained. "The only reason they continued to attack after that was because they were angry at Cyrus, and felt threatened by him. He is no longer here. Therefore – "

"Excuse me." An all-too-familiar monotonous voice boomed, though this time there was a thin veil of anger hidden in it as well. "I do not appreciate it when lies are told on my behalf."

All six of them whirled around in dreaded surprise and were met with the sight of Cyrus at the far end of the plateau, his hair and clothes in a somewhat lesser state than the last time they had seen him.

"Cyrus!" Ash announced gravely, and Darkrai's expression darkened.

"I must admit, it was quite inconvenient of the two Titans to send me back in time like that…" He explained calmly, taking his time making his way across the Pillar to his machine. "But now, it is over."

The five humans packed in tighter around each other, blocking Cyrus's path. "What makes you think we're just gonna let you do that again?" Trey challenged angrily.

Cyrus chuckled dryly. "I don't recall saying that I needed your permission." Suddenly, he threw his arms out in front of him, and cried out, "Dialga! Palkia! Your master has RETURNED!"

In an instant, Dialga and Palkia's terribly pained cries of anguish resumed, tearing at the fabric of the dimensions and causing a flurry of distortion spheres to rapidly blink in and out of existence all around them.

The force of the event threw the five to the ground, and even Darkrai held its head and had to strain against the overwhelming magnitude of time and space collapsing around him. Cyrus appeared unaffected, and took this opportunity to run past them back to the controls of his device.

"Now, then…!" Cyrus began hungrily, gesturing up at the two massive Pokemon before him. "The time has come, Dialga, Palkia! Tear apart this pathetic universe, and create one for me anew!"

Amidst their horrid cries, they slowly brought their heads up, toward the empty space between them, and each fired out a blast of energy. The two blasts collided with each other, and the residual energy began spinning around the impact point until a small portal was created between the two Pokemon.

"What's…going on…?!" Ash grunted against the pain, watching Cyrus through hazy eyes.

"He is beginning the creation of his new universe…which is tearing our current one apart!" Darkrai answered with a similar level of difficulty. "We must stop him…!"

Dialga and Palkia leaned down toward the small portal they had created, still writhing and screaming in agony, and began to glow a bright blue and pink, respectively. These auras then formed into a beam of energy that extended out and connected to the portal, feeding it their respective energies. The portal slowly began to grow, the beams of energy remaining connected to it.

"Yes…! Feed it your power! Make it grow!" Cyrus growled.

Ash continued watching, feeling completely helpless to stop what was happening. Then his eyes drifted down to Cyrus's control panel, and he noticed the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, still slotted in the front of it, each one glowing brightly.

"Hey, Chance - !" He began, struggling to climb back to his feet. "You said that the Orbs are our best shot at stopping him, right?!"

"I – yeah, but - !" Chance started, but Ash had already taken off running before he could say any more. "Ash, wait!"

"We don't have time!" Ash roared, sprinting toward the control panel, where Cyrus was still standing with his back to him. "We've gotta stop him right now!"

"Ash!" May cried out, fighting to her feet as well and taking off after him.

"Hey, you guys - !" Trey began, but before he could finish, they were both already gone.

Ash focused in on the Orbs as he ran, trying his best to ignore the crushing pain that was shooting through his body. Suddenly, he lost his balance, and was thus sent crashing to the ground, forcing him to struggle once again to climb back to his feet.

Then, he felt someone pull him up off the ground, and he turned to find May, waves of pain etched on her face, though still managing a smile at him. They nodded to each other and resumed their sprint to the Orbs.

They made it there without Cyrus even noticing, and quickly bent down, grasped hold of one Orb each, and pulled back firmly, managing to rip them out of the holding devices on the machine.

Cyrus turned to face them at once, a maniacal expression present on his face, far more emotion than he'd ever shown previously. "How dare you! You have been a thorn in my side for long enough – it's time for you to die!"

He flashed out his pistol in an instant, and neither of them had time to react given the circumstances. He pulled the trigger without hesitation, sending a lethal bullet rocketing toward Ash's heart – but then Ash was shoved to the ground, causing him to look back at who had forced him down.

Trey stood in his place, having taken the shot in Ash's stead. He hovered there limply for a moment before toppling to the ground in a heap.

"TREY!" Lily cried out from behind them, appearing at his side a moment later.

Cyrus grunted angrily and again turned the gun on Ash, but then he noticed Dialga and Palkia's cries began to lessen, as did the spatial pressure around them. He turned and saw the energy beams feeding his portal had dissipated without the Orbs to control the two Titans, and the wormhole to his new universe was slowly and steadily beginning to fade away.

He wanted to turn back and wrest the Orbs from Ash and May's hands himself, but something in his mind told him that he didn't have time. He stared into the depths of the portal, transfixed by the shimmering lights he saw within it.

A loud clatter echoed across the plateau as the handgun fell from his grip, his hands both reaching out toward the portal. He began walking toward it, slowly, as it continued to dissipate. "My…my own world…my paradise…"

Everyone stood watching him in a mixture of surprise and confusion, not sure what exactly was happening. Chance got to his feet as the pressure continued to disappear around them.

Cyrus approached the foot of the portal, hesitating a moment before entering, which finally gave away his intention.

"Wait, Cyrus!" Ash called, realizing what he was about to do.

Silence lingered in the air for a moment, and then, without turning back, Cyrus stepped into the wormhole, still muttering to himself, "Paradise…" A moment later, the portal shrunk down to the point of nonexistence, and vanished behind him.

Another wave of silence covered the area for a short while. Ash and May gathered around Trey's fallen body, while Chance and Darkrai merely glanced at each other uneasily.

Finally, May spoke. "…Trey? Are you okay?"

He didn't respond, and his eyes remained closed. Lily had been quiet ever since he had taken his fall, but only now did Ash and May realize that she was sobbing softly to herself.

"Trey…" Ash grunted under his breath, staring at the bullet wound and realizing that Cyrus's aim had been intentionally lethal, as opposed to the wounds that he and Lily had sustained in the past.

Just as Chance was about to question whether or not they were actually safe, a wave of pressure unlike any they had experienced thus far blanketed the air, forcing them all to fall flat on the ground, and entire mountain peaks suddenly began blinking out of existence around them.

"What…?!" Ash grunted, unable to utter anything more coherent.

"The…the dimensions are still too unstable!" Darkrai managed, having even been forced to the ground himself. "Cyrus did too much damage during the construction of his universe…the dimensions are still going to unravel!"

"What do we do?!" May demanded desperately.

"I – I don't know!"

Amidst the chaos, Dialga and Palkia remained calm and quiet, though they appeared distressed by what was transpiring around them. After a few moments, they nodded to each other and turned to face Ash and May.

Suddenly, to Ash and May's surprise, the Orbs began to glow once again, and drifted up, out of their arms and into the air. They moved to hover over the Lake Guardians, still situated in Cyrus's machine, before simultaneously expelling a spherical cloud of blue and pink that covered the Guardians and indeed the entirety of the machine itself.

Despite the crushing pressure around them, Ash and May both found that they were suddenly able to stand, and did so, blinking at each other in confusion before turning to the spherical cloud before them, as well as Dialga and Palkia behind it.

Chance, Darkrai, and even Lily had all stopped to watch the two of them, and it was only a moment longer before Ash and May heard two strange voices in their heads.

"_Come."_

They turned to each other in surprise before glancing up at the Titans, who nodded to them. Ash and May regarded each other cautiously, then nodded as well, and they both stepped forward and were consumed by the pink-and-blue cloud.

Slowly, they both opened their eyes, and felt a similar sensation as when they had entered the shared consciousness Darkrai had created. They appeared to be floating in another strange dimension, covered in bright blue and pink everywhere they looked.

"Where…?" May began slowly, but stopped when she realized it was a pointless question. Before either of them had very much time to wonder, however, Dialga and Palkia shimmered into view before them, their eyes locked on the young couple.

"P-Palkia…" Ash managed, staring up at the huge creature before him.

"And D-Dialga…" May echoed, feeling a similar sense of inferiority.

"_You two…" _One of the voices they had heard a moment before echoed throughout both their minds, and from the body language, they guessed that it was Dialga.

"_...have sacrificed so much." _The other voice finished, which, they deduced, must have belonged to Palkia.

Ash and May's mouths both dropped open in surprise from what they heard.

"_I wish that there was enough time for us to explain the magnitude of what you have done for us." _Palkia explained soothingly.

"_But, unfortunately, that is not the case…due to Cyrus's interference, the fabric of your world has been sundered beyond repair."_ Dialga continued. _"Within a matter of minutes, your universe will collapse on itself, and all will be lost."_

"What?! What do we do?!" Ash demanded at once.

"Can't we stop it?!" May remarked frantically. "Can't _you_ stop it?!"

Dialga and Palkia glanced at each other slowly before answering. _"Yes, there is one way."_ Palkia began.

"_Shattering the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs would release two simultaneous waves of energy that echo across the universe in a matter of moments. These waves allow us to reshape the world in whatever way we see fit, freely altering time and space in your world, until the waves dissipate." _Dialga explained. _"Under normal circumstances, we would be unshackled and free to rampage upon the new world as we see fit, without the Orbs to channel and contain our power."_

"_But…these are not normal circumstances." _Palkia stated, almost seeming solemn about it. _"Thanks to the gift that you gave us, we no longer require the Orbs to contain our presence. We are free to take that task ourselves."_

Ash's face slowly broke into a grin. "So…that means we can still stop this! We just have to shatter the two Orbs!"

Dialga and Palkia nodded in unison, and the Orbs shimmered into view between them and Ash and May, floating in the empty space. Despite Ash's eagerness, however, May still sensed that something was wrong.

"_Yes, that is partially true…but…" _Palkia trailed off.

"But…?" May prompted, causing Ash's face to fall slightly as he caught wind that something wasn't right.

Dialga sighed before answering. _"Although it is true that we no longer require the Orbs…the effect of the waves they create still requires two participants."_

"_Normally…shattering the Orbs does more than simply weaken the shackles of time and space. Doing so would also sever the bonds we have between each other and send us into a blind frenzy, and thus create a terrible storm of destruction in your world." _Palkia added. _"But…now…"_

"_Due to the link that our minds now share, the very same one that allows us to communicate even now, you two would be able to take our place when the Orbs shatter, and sever your bond with each other to fuel the shockwaves."_

"Sever our bond…?" Ash repeated slowly, not wanting to accept what he was sure he was hearing. "But doesn't that mean…"

"Oh, no…" May uttered sadly.

"_I am afraid so." _Palkia stated.

"_To put it plainly…in order to stop your universe from disappearing, you must shatter the Orbs here before us, and allow them to take every memory you both have of each other…it is the only way."_

Ash and May both fell silent, unable to speak against what they were hearing, what Dialga and Palkia were proposing. They both knew that they didn't have very long before everything they had ever known would be gone, including themselves…but at the same time, they couldn't bring themselves to contemplate actually going through with what they were being told to do.

"_If you are going to do this, you must do it quickly_." Dialga reminded them. _"We do not have much time left."_

Ash was the first one to speak, though his eyes were looking down, away from May and the Titans. "…It…it can't…it's not fair…"

May remained silent, staring at the ground – or lack thereof – as well. After she heard Ash's words, tears began to silently cascade down her face unbidden. "I…I can't do it...there's no way…"

Dialga and Palkia remained silent, merely watching the two as they grappled with the issue at hand.

Ash felt tears welling up in his eyes as well, but he knew that if he let them free, it would only make things harder for May. He turned to her, mustering up every bit of strength and courage he had left in him. "May…I think – "

"Don't say it!" May sobbed, cutting him off with tears still in her eyes. "Ash, please don't say it…"

Ash waited a moment before responding. He had never seen her like this before, and though he wasn't showing it, he felt just as sad and helpless as she did. "I just…I just wanted to tell you…being with you's been the most amazing time of my whole life."

May's eyes widened, and she turned to meet his gaze. "Ash…you _are_ the most amazing thing in my life. That's why…I can't…"

Ash floated over to her and put his hands on her shoulders, staring back into her deep, blue eyes. "May…you showed me what it was like to care so much about another person besides myself. I'd always had Pikachu, and my Pokemon…but you were different."

"Ash…" She breathed, looking back at him, and then she remembered what an impact _he'd_ originally had on _her_ life. "You know…you were the one who got me to like Pokemon in the first place. Before meeting you, I'd always hated how my family was so in love with them…but when I saw how much you cared about them, I realized that there was more to them than I'd thought. There's no way I'd be here today without you."

They continued to hold each other's gaze for a moment before they suddenly and mutually closed the gap between them, each pulling the other into a tender kiss that was filled with all of their unexpressed emotions and desires for each other, a plea between themselves to not have to let go.

When they at last pulled apart, they looked at each other as if they were about to say something, but were instead interrupted by Dialga's voice in their heads.

"_We are out of time. Will you come and shatter the Orbs?"_

They looked to the two floating Orbs in unison, then back down to each other. They quickly embraced once again, savoring the feel of the other's skin on theirs, and then pulled apart, nodding to each other as they did.

They then went and floated up to the hovering Orbs, Ash stopping before the Lustrous Orb, and May in front of the Adamant. Before speaking their approval to the Titans, they looked over at each other one last time, and locked their hands together.

"…We're ready."

Dialga and Palkia nodded in unison and raised their heads at once, bellowing with all of their might. The force of the roars caused the Orbs to crack, and, a second later, shatter into an innumerable number of pieces that were instantly swept away into the void of their dimension. Two shockwaves simultaneously exploded out from where the Orbs had been a second before, engulfing the entire area in pink and blue light, and causing Ash and May to cry out in pain as their minds were suddenly accessed by the forces of nature.

Every memory they had ever shared together flashed before their eyes in an instant that seemed like a painful eternity; it wasn't technically pain that washed over their body and engulfed their senses, but rather the combined effect of having thousands, millions of memories and experiences suddenly ripped from their minds and replaced with nothing.

Outside of their dimension, Lily, Chance, and Darkrai stood by and watched in awe as multicolored shockwaves began to shoot forth from the pink-and-blue cloud, removing every distortion bubble from the landscape and cleansing the air of the crushing spatial pressure.

Suddenly, Lily looked down, feeling Trey's body stir, and she was met with the impossible sight of his eyes blinking open groggily. Before either one of them could speak, however, a bright flash covered the plateau, and, although they were unaware of it, the entire universe, as well.

* * *

_You know you're not finished, right? Go right on over to the epilogue._

_Actually, before you do, I have the other part of my Advanceshipping Day update here for you: Go to YouTube and paste this at the end of your link - watch?v=BQVgRA3fq8s&feature=channel&list=UL  
_

_Or, you could just search it on YouTube - it's titled Love is Blind II - Memories, by necris14.  
_

_Enjoy!  
_


	23. Chapter 23: Epilogue

"Come on, Ash, hurry up!" The young girl called across the harbor to her friend. A small flock of Starly soared overhead as she spoke, chirping enthusiastically.

"He definitely seems to be on the slow side this morning…which is kind of weird, considering…" Her other companion, another boy, who was a few years older than her, remarked.

The girl waited a moment longer before calling after Ash again. "Ash, if you don't get over here right now, I'll - !"

"All right, all right, I'm coming, okay?!" Ash called back frantically, dashing across the harbor in an attempt to avoid another of his frequent arguments with his friend.

"Pika, pi!" Pikachu added, from its ever-constant position on Ash's shoulder.

"Wow, good job, Dawn. There's not many people that Ash is afraid of arguing with."

"Oh, Brock, stop it." Dawn said jokingly, waving her hand toward him as Ash came running up to rejoin the two of them. "About time you got here."

"I still don't get why it matters if _I'm_ here or not." Ash grumbled. "There's some cool Pokemon stuff in that market – "

"I'll tell you why it matters." Dawn said suddenly, cutting him off matter-of-factly. "I want to see if Brock's stories about you are really true."

"Not that again…" Ash grunted. "I already told you, I don't know what he's talking about."

Brock merely chuckled. "Whatever you say, Ash."

The trio continued waiting around the harbor for the next few minutes until, finally, a large boat began to come into view on the horizon line, prompting Brock and Dawn to run forward for a better view.

"Yep, that looks like the one." Brock declared knowingly.

They headed over to the loading area and waited for the ship to come into port, a strange sensation slowly arising in Ash's chest all the while. They continued milling around until the passengers began unloading, and they took to watching them as they went by, one by one, until at last Brock spotted the telltale Poke Ball-emblazoned bandana he was searching for.

"Hey! Hey, May!" Brock called out happily, waving towards her in greeting.

She looked over at the familiar voice and smiled when she saw who it was. "Hi, Brock! It's good to see you!" She remarked enthusiastically, running over to the three of them.

"You…you're really May! Wow!" Dawn exclaimed. "I can't believe the Princess of Hoenn is actually standing here in front of me!"

"Oh, don't call me that." May replied, blushing at the title. "I'm just May. You must be Dawn, right? Brock's told me a lot about you!"

"Yep, that's right! I hope you're ready to compete against me in the Wallace Cup!"

"Oh, don't worry!" May shot back playfully. Her eyes then drifted over to Ash, and she stopped dead, her cheerful expression falling at once, though she wasn't sure why.

Ash was experiencing as similar sensation; from the moment he'd seen her approaching them, his mind had frozen in place and he'd been unable to perform any kind of complex action at all, much less think straight. For some reason, when he looked at her, it stirred something deep inside of him, something he wasn't even aware existed.

Brock and Dawn noticed their inability to speak, and Dawn looked over at Brock, who was merely smirking. He'd told Dawn a long time ago about Ash's old relationship with May, and how they had seemingly broken it off with each other and gone their separate ways while in Sinnoh, presumably explaining why Ash was on his own when Dawn had originally met him. What he'd always found strange about it was how Ash had gone further than simply denying their relationship had happened; he had claimed he didn't even know who May was.

Ash blinked after what seemed like forever, and, slowly, awkwardly, he extended a hand out toward her. "I…I'm Ash."

May blinked as well, managing to look down as his outstretched hand strangely. After a moment, she reached her own hand out as well, grasping his in the most awkward handshake either of them had ever experienced. "Hi…I'm May."

An instant later, as they both looked into each other's eyes, something triggered deep within the two of them, causing a rush of long-forgotten feelings and emotions to come surging back to the surface.

Ash continued to hold her gaze, then broke into a smile a moment later, prompting her to do the same. "Hi, May. I think we've got some catching up to do."

Far beneath their feet, deep below the surface of the planet, a small hibernation crystal sat undisturbed, housing a certain Pokemon for its thousand-year slumber. However, as Ash and May's hands met far on the surface above, the crystal lit up for a brief second, and Jirachi twitched violently in its slumber.

* * *

_And there you are, guys!_

_I just want to close out by thanking everyone who's actually still reading this after all this time, and all of the newer readers too, of course. This took me way longer than I expected to finish, but I was determined to still get it done one day, even after all the hiatuses and stuff. So thank you all for reading, reviewing, and sticking around, and I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
_


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